From the Ashes
by Little Miss Jigsaw
Summary: Ten years after Raccoon city, and Umbrella is quiet. But a new company is on the rise, and it's looking suspiciously like Umbrella. But who's calling the shots? And just what is going on in the Nevada desert? CANCELED
1. Prologue

Okay, this is my first full-length RE fic in awhile... 

You'll notice references to RE5 in this (aka the BSAA) and some mentions of Degeneration (the airport in LA)...All mentions of those are purely speculation on my part, and will not likely be elaborated on any farther. 

I'm going a different route with Billy and Rebecca on this one, instead of the usual "Billy vanishes then suddenly re-appears out of the blue with never having spoken to Rebecca before that" routine...

Disclaimer: I don't own RE... I'm just borrowing capcom's creations for my own... questionable purposes.

Oh and I don't own X-Files or SGA, either. 

_**From The Ashes**_

_It falls to me to usher in this new future_

_-Albert Wesker_

Prologue: Messages

Las Vegas, NV  
July 19th, 2008 7:01 am 

Rebecca Anne Chambers; twenty-eight, 5'2, red hair, green eyes, and currently curled up in her recliner, a laptop balanced on her legs. Yawning, she scrubbed at her eyes to rid them of grit from sleep. This task done, she blinked at her computer screen several times, as if that were going to make the words on the screen any easier to read. It was too early, really, to be reading, or typing, or doing anything other than enjoying one's first cup of coffee- which Rebecca was trying to do- but here she was, trying to make sense of an email from a long-time friend. It was a bit difficult, as her sleep-blurred vision made the tiny words go fuzzy.

As she tried to read, she half-listened to a re-run of the X-Files. By the time the title music started, she had finished reading the email, and had begun typing a response. 

_Billy,_

_4 am... Was that __really__ necessary? What are you doing up that early anyway? Don't blame me for not responding right away, but some of us __normal__ people kinda require our 8 hours of sleep, thanks. _

_Your news was less than pleasant, but I'll pass it along to Chris. I think he's been in contact with that same group... The BSAA right? He still hasn't told any of us what the initials stand for, only that they're an anti-Umbrella group, like us. I don't know if he's heard what you told me though. If he hasn't, he won't be happy. But we all knew Umbrella wouldn't stay quiet for long. Not after Spain, and L.A.- Which for the record should fall off into the ocean anyway... Along with the rest of California... But then, you already know my thoughts on Cali- Umbrella just won't quit. Sometimes I wonder if what we're doing is making any difference at all... Chris and Jill thought they'd destroyed Umbrella for good back in '03... I guess they were wrong. _

_But I can't say anything about Umbrella that hasn't already been said, so on to a new topic, yes? More specifically, your need to get the hell outta Dodge. You know, all these years we've kept in touch, and we haven't seen each other. __Not once__. I guess what I'm trying to say is you're always welcome here, if you need a safe place to stay. The Scooby Gang would be grateful to have another helping hand, since Barry decided to take off and just lay low with his wife... And...  
Well, I miss you, Billy. 10 years is too long to go without so much as a visit._

_Please, at least consider it. You know where to find me. _

_Rebecca 3_

Reading over her words, Rebecca grimaced as she hit send. That wasn't what she had intended to say. Not by a long shot. What had been going through her head was more along the lines of "get your ass to Vegas, and be quick about it, before I finally give up on you for good,". Of course, thinking along those lines, and getting the thoughts into words were two different things, and she wasn't quite brave enough to do it. Sighing, Rebecca set her computer aside, grabbed her empty coffee mug, got to her feet, and headed for the kitchen. She groaned loudly at the mountain of dirty dishes that greeted her. _This_ was what she got for inviting the entire Scooby Gang over for dinner, and refusing offers to help clean up. Silly her.

The "entire Scooby Gang" consisted of; Chris and Claire Redfield, Carlos Oliveira, Jill Valentine-Oliveira- as of three years previously- Leon Kennedy, Tandy Marlon, and Jonathan Caine. 

Leon was a newer recruit. Permanent recruit anyway. He'd helped them out several times, since Raccoon City had been wiped off the map. He just hadn't actively played a role in their actions until four years before, when, after a nightmare of a mission in Spain, he'd said to hell with babysitting duty and sought out the STARS. It was Tandy and Jonathan that were the newest additions to the gang.

Tandy was a former New York City cop. She'd been in L.A. when a virus outbreak had occured in a local airport. It was thanks to Leon and Claire that she had survived. As her reason for being in L.A. had been to seek out a new job, she'd had no employers to hound her for suddenly moving to Vegas- which was where the STARS had headed after the airport incident (all claimed that the move was because of the outbreak and _not_ because of their shared distaste for the city). 

Jonathan- whom much preferred to be called Caine- was a former Umbrella employee, whom upon discovering what they were doing out of sight of the public had left the company. He hadn't joined the STARS until the L.A. outbreak, which he, like Tandy, had been caught in. While he wasn't a particularly _nice_ man, he wasn't the type to stand for what Umbrella was doing. Rebecca liked him well enough, despite his gruff nature, and she was one of the few people he was actually nice to, so that counted for something. 

With another sigh, Rebecca returned to the living room, and sank back into her chair. It was a weekend, and Chris and Claire weren't going to be around until later that afternoon... She had time to catch just a little more sleep...

-_She was eighteen again, and walking through the Ecliptic Express, gun drawn, muscles tensed; ready to either fire, or run, at the slightest hint of danger. She jumped, and whirled around, gun ready, when the door behind her opened with a loud creak. There stood Lieutenant Billy Coen; murderer of twenty-three people... Twenty-five if one was to count the two dead soldiers outside... And it was still under debate on whether or not he'd had anything to do with the bodies all over the train... Granted, it didn't look as though any of them had been killed by any human... Actually, neither had the soldiers, now that she thought about it...  
_

_"Listen," the former marine said, before Rebecca could speak, "It's prob'ly going to get a lot more dangerous from here on in. So, why don't we put a hold on the whole arresting me thing, and work together on this mess?"_

_"With__you__?" Rebecca scoffed, "A murder-"_

_Billy cut her off, "Look, little girl, in case it has somehow escaped your attention, there are some pretty fucked up things on this train, and I for one wanna live to see tomorrow. I don't think either of us stand much of a chance running around alone."_

_Hands on her hips, Rebecca spat back, "Well, maybe you can't, but I can handle this on my own, I don't need any help... And don't call me little girl." The last was added as an afterthought, when she realized what he'd called her. _

_Billy had the audacity to __laugh__ at her, "Alright then, Princess," not only the audacity to laugh, but the jerk had the nerve to flip her hair! Bastard. "What should I call you?"_

_"The name is Rebecca Chambers," Rebecca replied, almost automatically. She hurriedly added, "But that's __Officer__ Chambers to __you__."_

_"Well then, __Rebecca__," Billy said, smugly, as he moved to block her path. Jackass. "Why don't you go see how well you hold up on your own, while I wait here?"_

_As the door to what Rebecca guessed was the kitchen was getting no power, that left her with one option- aside from shooting the arrogant prick standing in her way... which was awful tempting- the stairs. Muttering curses that would have made a sailor blush- and her mother threaten to beat her within an inch of her life-, Rebecca stomped up the stairs, determined to prove that she could, and in fact would, take care of herself. _

Rebecca woke to find she hadn't slept very long. Half hour, at most. On the tv, Mulder and Scully were debating the believeability of an abduction story; typical. Her laptop was dinging to let her know that she had a new email waiting for her. Knowing who it was from, she eagerly grabbed the computer, and opened her email program.

_Rebecca,_

_4 am? I was up at 2. 4 is nothing, trust me. And don't worry, I won't hold it against you. I know how much you like your beauty sleep. _

_Yes, I remember all too well how you feel about California. I believe your last rant included a wish for the entire state to just "shake its self right into the ocean, so the world would be rid of it."... Hostile, Becca, hostile. _

_As for Umbrella; they'll never stop. Not until every one of the puppeteers behind the scenes is taken care of. I hope your "Scooby Gang"- interesting nickname, by the way- understands that. _

_Grateful for another helping hand, huh? How many of you are there now, that are actively involved in any of the shady-side-of-legal missions? 7? 8?_

That was true enough. There were only eight of them, now that Barry had taken off. Though they had contacts with other groups from all over. The newest of which being one of Chris' contacts. There had once been more of them. Alot more. But most of Chris and Jill's team had been slaughtered in Russia...

_Not that it takes that many to take out a facility, as you'll recall._

_Time for me to head out, Babe. Later.  
Billy_

Rebecca sighed in disappointment, not seeing a response to her invitation. For a moment, she considered not bothering with a response, until he contacted her once he'd settled somewhere. Then she saw the small line of text at the bottom of the page:

_PS: I'll see you next week, Doll. _

Grinning, Rebecca put her fingers to work typing up a response. By the time she was done, the X-Files was over and an episode of Stargate Atlantis was playing. One of Rebecca's personal favorite episodes, actually- ("Another sparring accident?" Keller asked Ronon, as he strolled into the infirmary, his arm bleeding. "Actually," was the response, "This time I fell in the shower." "Oh, really?" "No. Sparring accident.")- though she barely noticed. She was too pleased about her invitation being accepted. Still grinning, she hit send. 

She and Billy had kept in contact via email for the last decade. Sure it wasn't the ideal arrangement, but at least Billy hadn't vanished without a trace. Though Rebecca didn't deny that she wished he'd chosen to show up a hell of a lot sooner... If only to save her from a few bad relationships. Although Billy _had_ offered to have those guys "taken care of"- she had noticed, however, that he said the same about any boyfriend she'd mentioned.  
But aside from that, Rebecca missed her sarcastic, yet noble partner terribly. And finally, after ten years, she was going to see him again. 

----------------------

Posting chapter 1 in just a moment...


	2. Chapter 1

Here's chapter one

I still don't own RE... or the Dark Crystal... which Rebecca stole her cat's name from... 

Chapter One: An Old Friend

Las Vegas, NV 

July 22nd, 2008, 11:58 pm

Rebecca bumped the fridge door with her hip to shut it, as her hands were otherwise occupied; one with the phone, one with a bottle of Bacardi watermelon rum. 

"Yeah, Jill, I know," said Rebecca, popping the cap off the bottle, and taking a drink, "I'll be ready, don't worry." She took another swig from the bottle, and choked when she heard Carlos shout something in the background. He had clearly done it on purpose. Swallowing with more than a little difficulty, she said, "Tell your husband he nearly killed me just now... Oh, he thinks it's funny? I'm sticking a fork in his leg at dinner tomorrow- no don't tell him! It ruins the fun..."

Rebecca glanced up at the clock; 11:59.

"Listen, Jill, I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. Yes I heard him. Tell him I love him too. Night. Bye."

Hanging up the phone, Rebecca flopped onto the sofa, with a tired groan. Her cat- one of them anyway- a fluffy silver tabby christened "Fizzgig" lept up and made herself comfortable on Rebecca's lap, purring loud enough so that she vibrated. The several clocks in the house chimed as they struck twelve. It was now ten years to the day since the nightmare that was Umbrella had begun- for the STARS at least. Ten years since that chopper had gone down; since she'd lost her team; since she'd disobeyed direct orders, and allowed a convict to go free...

_Well, Edward, Kenneth, Richard, Enrico, Kevin, Forest,_ she thought, before saying aloud, "Here's to you guys. Hope you're having a better time tonight than I am." With that, she took a long drink. 

Without warning, her other cat- a calico, named Jinx- shot by, puffed up to twice her normal size, and growling. The growling often caused Rebecca to wonder if her pet was a cat, or a watchdog. Jinx didn't stop until she had reached a window and could stare outside from it. Fizzgig, awakened from her nap, hopped off her mistress' lap, and followed her playmate. 

"Nutty creatures," Rebecca muttered, once she had taken a look herself, and had seen nothing. She continued to mutter to herself, as she grabbed the cats, "Paranoid animals... Speck of _dust_ touches the glass... A _leaf_ blows by, and you both raise hell..." as she headed towards the laundry room, she ended her muttered rant with, "I should have listened to Caine, and gotten fish instead." With no further ado, she dropped both balls of fluff on the laundry room floor, and locked them in the room. If she didn't, they would either keep her up all night, or get into things they shouldn't while she was asleep. To put them outside would just be asking for run-over pets... and for all that they annoyed her sometimes, Rebecca loved the furballs

Finishing her drink, Rebecca headed for her room, fully intending to crash, and sleep till somewhere in the vicinity of noon. It had been a long day at work. A _long_ day. Tomorrow- or that day, if you wanted to get technical about it- was her day off. And it was staying that way. She wasn't getting called in again, just because Toby got lazy and decided not to show. She knew for a fact he wasn't sick half the time he called in... His most common reason usually sported either red, or blond hair. She knew; she'd been one of those reasons for a while. _ Bastard only calls in "sick" when he knows it's my day off, and I'm the only one who's available to cover for him. _

With that bitter thought in mind, she fell uncerimoniously onto her bed, and was out before her head hit the pillow. Thankfully, she fell into a good dream, instead of the usual nightmares that plagued her. 

---------------------

July 23rd, 6:15 am

A tail brushing under her nose brought her out of a good- okay, wonderful- dream, as she sneezed. Judging from the fluffiness it was-

"Fizzgig," Rebecca groaned, sleepily, "Go 'way." The cat ignored her, and promptly made herself comfortable on Rebecca's chest. "G'off 'fore I throw you o-" Rebecca stopped mid-threat. Hadn't she locked the cats in the laundry room? Yes, she quite clearly remembered doing so. How had Fizz gotten out? Scrubbing at her eyes, she looked at the clock on her bedside table. 6:15. Wonderful. If Fizzgig had gotten herself out, Rebecca was going to kill her. Grumbling, she grabbed the offending animal, and got out of bed. She found the laundry room door open. Jinx was still inside, dead to the world atop the dryer. Decidedly displeased with being awoken so early on her day off, Rebecca shoved Fizzgig into the room, and shut the door with a little more force than normal. She didn't want to know how the damned creature had gotten out; not right then anyway. She drug her feet as she went past the kitchen, not even taking a second glance at the partially open door. Cat-proofing the laundry room could come _after_ she had a few more hours of slee-

Why was the kitchen door open? She knew for a fact it had been locked. She had never _un_locked it the day before. She carefully and quietly made her way to the door, and pushed it shut. Now wide-awake, she turned to run back to her room to grab her beretta. Before she could actually start to head for said room, however, the lights suddenly flickered to life. Adjusted to the darkness, and ill-prepared for the sudden flash of light, Rebecca's eyes protested greatly to the abuse, causing blue and green flashes to dance in front of her for several moments. As her vision slowly cleared, she saw that she wasn't alone in the room...

Leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, and a smug smirk on his face, was Billy Coen. He was almost exactly how Rebecca remembered him; dark jeans, wife-beater shirt- black this time- blue eyes cold, and calculating, black hair slicked back- except for that one lock that was determined to fall forward... Only a few things differed; the few strands of gray in his hair were a new addition, the handcuffs she had grown so accustomed to seeing were, of course, gone, as were his dogtags- which she herself still wore-...and he looked _tired_. Not "sleepy" tired, but weary... tired of everything in general... The kind of tired that started to show after a decade of fighting a never-ending battle. 

To her credit, Rebecca tried to get words to form on her lips the moment she realized who the "intruder" was, but her brain just didn't seem to want to work, nor did her voice. Her being shocked into silence seemed to amuse Billy, for his smirk only grew. 

"What's the matter, Doll? Cat got your tongue?" 

Hearing the familiar voice allowed Rebecca to find her own voice. Alas, in hindsight, what she said wasn't exactly the best greeting in the world, "Billy? What in the hell are you doing here this early?... And have you ever heard of _knocking_?"

Billy continued to wear that smug expression, as he replied with more than a little sarcasm, "Hell of a greeting, after ten years, Princess. Missed you too." 

Rebecca, realizing what she'd said, turned an interesting shade of red, "Sorry... But you shouldn't sneak up on a person like that..."

"Maybe you shouldn't be so jumpy," Billy suggested with a shrug, moving away from the door, to stand in front of Rebecca- (she was rather annoyed to find that her memory had been correct on how short he made her feel... and he wasn't even that tall himself!).

"Look who's talking," Rebecca shot back, "You move around alot, for a dead man." And with that, she promptly jumped up- damn height difference- and hugged him. 

It took Billy a moment to return the embrace, but when he did, he did so with bonecrushing force, causing Rebecca to squeak- more out of need for air than surprise. _I didn't really need those ribs anyway_ she thought idly, _I'll have to thank him for ridding me of them, when I can breathe again._ "Billy..." she said aloud, with a great deal of difficulty, "Oxygen... becoming... issue."

Billy laughed at her- it was a foreign sound, the genuine laugh; not the mocking sound she'd heard when he'd been amused with her admittedly stupid claims that she needed no help in a monster-infested train; but a true laugh- and released his slowly suffocating companion. He shrugged in what seemed to be a semblance of an apology. Then he reached forward and played with a lock of her hair, "that's a change," he commented. Rebecca could only guess he was talking about the length and color; when they'd met, it'd been boyishly short, and on the auburn-ish side of brunette. Now it fell past her shoulders, even when she pulled it up in a ponytail- or the occasional loose pigtails- and she'd been dying it a dark red for years. Frankly, she was surprised Billy hadn't taken to dying his hair to cover up the traces of silver. She said as much, making an 'old man' comment while she was at it. Billy ignored her, and promptly changed the subject to that of coffee.

---------------

July 23rd, 7:20 am

Billy was, to be perfectly honest, surprised. He had come to Vegas expecting to find the girl who'd walked away from him on that hilltop all those years ago; the spunky but naive slip of a girl. Instead he arrived to find a still-spunky but decidedly more grown up _woman_ in the girl's place.  
Said woman was currently sitting across from him, valiantly defending her coffee from the two balls of fur whom were determined to get it, as they had been with all the previous mugs. The ringing phone distracted her from her battle. Holding a finger up in Billy's general direction as a signal that she'd be back in a moment, Rebecca went off in search of the phone. Billy watched her walk away, only half-aware of the less-than-appropriate thoughts that drifted into his mind, as he did so. Upon realizing the sorts of thoughts drifting into his mind, he shook his head vehemently. Not thoughts he needed to be thinking... Yet.

"Yes, Carlos, I remembered," Rebecca was saying as she entered the kitchen once again. "Jill thinks everyone is forgetful, remem-" her sentence was cut off when she suddenly yawned, "Don't do that," she said, once she'd recovered, "It's contagious."

Billy leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth twitching in a small smile as he watched Rebecca pace about the room, as she talked. She was silent for several moments, before she cringed, and held the phone away from her ear. Billy could faintly hear "they were on the desk!" coming from the object. Shaking her head, and rolling her eyes, Rebecca replaced the phone against her ear, clearly poised to remove it should Carlos once again need to shout. 

Several more moments of silence before... "Jill? I told him I hadn't forgotten...Yeah, well, your husband's an idiot... Yup, he did... I could ask, but-... No, Jill, I don't-... Fine, but not right now... Because I haven't had even an hour to-... Jill!.. Carlos, I hear you on the other phone. Don't encourage her, and both of you get your minds out of the gutter. It's too early for that... No, that's not what I meant-..." whatever the reply was after that, it made Rebecca turn an impossible shade of red, "I'm hanging up now... Jill, you can't try to pull that routine over the phone. Now, really, I'm hanging up, and enjoying my morning..." if possible, she turned even redder at whatever Jill had said, "I'll see you later. If I hear one peep about this, I'll personally ensure that you both wind up on a slab in the morgue." 

With a mock-frustrated sigh, she hit the end button on the phone, and dropped it on the table. "What?" she asked, seeing Billy's smile of amusement. 

Billy only shrugged, and shook his head.

------------

Somewhere beneath the Nevada desert  
July 23rd, 1:05 pm

Albert Wesker sat back and watched as Ada Wong took out her frustration on a punching bag; hitting it with enough force that he was sure it was going to give at any moment. He smirked a bit, proud, in a way, that he had pissed her off so badly. 

"No," said Ada, firmly, "Get someone else to do it. I'm sure Hunter is dying to impress you."

"You put him in the infirmary this morning," Wesker replied, as calmly and cooly as if he were commenting on the weather, and not a man currently lying on a hospital bed with a shattered kneecap, several missing teeth, whom would have to forgo ever reproducing... All for a pair of wandering hands- both of which had suffered broken fingers, "If he's dying, it's not to impress me."

Ada shrugged, not relenting in her assault on the punching bag- which was starting to get a permanent dent worn in it from where her fists were continuously slamming into it. "Eben, then."

"Eben's a rookie, which is why he's going with _you_, and don't try to argue... Or need I remind you of our agreement, and what happens should you break it?"

The constant pounding ceased- the silence following was almost deafening. Ada turned to face her employer, jade eyes darkening with a loathing that the woman no longer bothered to keep hidden. Wesker's smirk only grew. He had Ada under his thumb, and she knew it, which made the fact that there was nothing for her to do but obey him that much more amusing. She should have thought about that before she tried to betray him... 

The pair stared each other down, Wesker's cat-like gold eyes glowing red for a moment, as if daring Ada to defy him. Finally, Ada's shoulders sagged in defeat, though she said nothing. Wesker didn't need her to say anything, anyway. 

"Good girl," he said, "You leave on Monday," he started to walk away, but turned back towards the woman after a moment, as if remembering something, "Oh, and Ada? If you do happen to see Leon, or any of his friends... don't try to help out. I'll know about it." With that, he did walk away, but not before he heard Ada muttering to herself.

"One of these days we won't be playing by your rules..."

Wesker only chuckled quietly. _Ada, my dear, by the time that day comes, you will be long dead... Eben will make sure of that._

--------------

Las Vegas, NV

July 23rd, 5:42 pm

"Any particular reason you didn't give me a little warning about this, Doll?" Billy inquired, as Rebecca rambled on about dinner with a few of the "Scooby Gang" from her bedroom.

"I forgot?" Rebecca offered, poking her head out of the bedroom door. Said head was covered by the t-shirt she was trying to pull on. Shirt in place, she continued, "Okay, so I was afraid you wouldn't want to go... It'll just be Carlos and Jill... Jill's been bugging me to let her meet my 'mysterious pen pal' for years... She seemed to think you'd visited a few times... I think you'll like her. Carlos can come across as a bit of an ass sometimes, but-" she was rambling again. She seemed to do that when she got nervous. 

"Alright, I'll go," Billy's answer had the much desired effect; Rebecca snapped her jaw shut. Flashing him a bright grin, she ducked back into her room, presumably to finish getting dressed. "So what's the point of this little get-together?"

"It's the twenty-third," Rebecca replied, as if that would make the reason painfully obvious, which it did. The twenty-third of July. A decade to the day since all this had started... "Jill and I got into the habit of hanging out every year on the twenty-third, to kinda cheer each other up... Chris was, and still is, aways off doing something else... Claire and Leon didn't get involved until later, and didn't know any of the guys we lost, so... and Carlos, well, he's only been joining us since he and Jill got married..."

"What about the other two? Tandy and Caine, right?"

"Yeah... They don't even know about it..."

"Ah... Not gonna be gloomy is it?"

Rebecca chuckled, "With Carlos around, nothing is ever gloomy."

That didn't seem to need a reply, so Billy gave none. 

Not wanting to just stand around in the hallway, Billy made his way to the guest room- or rather, _his_ room, for however long he decided to stick around. It certainly looked different than it had when he'd arrived that morning; plastic sheets had covered everything but the bed- which Rebecca had uncovered and made prior to his arrival- and all the furniture had been stacked along one wall. He and Rebecca had spent the better part of the day rearranging everything, so now the room looked fit to live in. The few things Billy had brought with him were already put away in various drawers, or on various shelves. The laptop he was never without, no matter where his travels took him, sat upon the small desk, open and cycling through pictures as a screen-saver. As it stopped on one, a picture of Rebecca, which the woman had sent him years ago, he remembered the way his young friend had looked at him, as they had worked. She hadn't stopped watching him the entire time, almost as if she were afraid he would vanish, and while she hadn't said anything, Billy knew she'd been desperately wanting to ask him something. Most likely on the subject of how long he planned on staying. 

Truth be told, Billy wasn't sure how long he'd stay. He never stayed anywhere long... A month here, two there, a year in Denver, a week in New York. The moving around had long since stopped being about staying under the radar- there was no need anymore, anyone with knowledge of his failure to reach Ragathon base for his execution had died when Raccoon had been nuked (or maybe had been a zombie before that)... and of course before that, Rebecca had reported him dead. No, he moved because in all honesty, there was no reason to stay anywhere. What family he had left wouldn't have had anything to do with him, even if they'd known he was alive, and he had not a single person he could call a friend, aside from Rebecca. Yet he'd kept himself away from her, too. He really didn't know why, though it may have had something to do with some of the thoughts, and daydreams that drifted into his mind, when he wasn't careful. 

_Though..._ Billy reasoned with himself_, She's an adult now... Not a kid. _Definately_ not a kid anymore. _The corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a small hopeful smile, _we'll just see how things go..._

"You coming?" Rebecca called from the hall, pulling Billy from his thoughts. 

Shouting back an affirmative, Billy turned, and left the room, thinking he might just stick around longer than initially planned... 

--------------

Will post chapter 2 a soon as I'm done writing it...


	3. Chapter 2

Here's chapter two... I got it done faster than I expected, due to a sudden break in the wall that was Writer's Block (amazing what a playthrough of RE3 will do for you)

some actual plot in this one, in case you're wondering... And I promise that there will be zombies and horribly mutated monsters soon.

Thanks to whoever favorited this... Though a review would be nice hint hint

Anyone else who's reading... please please review? Reviews keep me happy. Me + Happy more writing.

And to anyone who may be offended by it, there is blatant Jill/Carlos goodness in this chapter... But, as they're not the main focus of the story, it won't be a problem in later chapters.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm broke, and if I SHOULD be making money off of this, it sure as hell isn't working. All characters, except for Eben, Tandy, and Caine, belong to capcom. I'm just borrowing them for my own dishonorable uses.

* * *

_**Chapter Two**_

Somewhere beneath the Nevada desert

July 23rd, 2008, 6:00 pm

Eben Caldwell trudged through the halls of the underground facility, black eyes observing only the floor directly in front of his feet. He was pondering his own mental health; not a very strange past-time for him. Eben was well aware that he was insane, despite popular belief that crazy people don't know they're crazy. He knew all too well that he wasn't quite right in the head. That wasn't to say that he was an outright psychopath, who walked around with a butcher knife hidden in his jacket, waiting to catch some unsuspecting big-breasted blond who would waste precious seconds screaming, instead of running... No, he wasn't _that_ kind of crazy- besides, he preferred brunettes, or red-heads.

His brand of crazy was more subtle, easily passed off as simply being a little eccentric. However, most 'just eccentric' people didn't have a trail of corpses stretching from their seventeenth birthday, to the present. No, Eben Ethan Caldwell was no stranger to killing people. And it was his lack of remorse over this, his lack of sleepless nights, that caused him to believe he was far from sane. Of course, he'd never killed without provocation, or without at least a simple reason... even one so simple as following orders. The woman he'd killed as a teenager... there had been good reason for that. Not that anyone would have listened to him, if he had stuck around. After all, who was going to believe that a teenage boy, with a list of loved and left girls a mile long, had been assaulted by a well-respected psychiatrist? If anything, people would have accused him of raping _her_ before he'd killed her...

The people after the shrink? Well, he had his reasons for all of them. Most of them were the easy one: just following orders. He did that a lot; following orders. Even if it meant killing someone. He found he sometimes _enjoyed_ it; another clue that he was off his nut. The key word was "sometimes"... He never felt remorse... _ever._ But he didn't always _enjoy_ his work.

He was Wesker's one-man clean-up crew. The one who tied up the loose-ends that the boss saw too trivial to take care of himself. Wesker pointed, he shot- or stabbed, or poisoned, or beat- then took care of the mess. That was his job, it had been his job ever since he'd stumbled across what was going on behind the scenes, with Umbrella. He had the feeling that it would continue to be his job for as long as he lived- which considering the survival rate of most of Wesker's personal employees, wasn't likely going to be that long.

He'd heard Wesker's "conversation" with Ada. He'd called him a rookie... Hah! Maybe as far as actual field work was concerned, but only then. He wasn't a rookie when it came to doing Wesker's dirty work.

And boy did Wesker have some dirty work for him this time. Kill his most disloyal, untrustworthy agent... The same agent who happened to also be the best of the bunch... That was probably why Wesker hadn't wanted her dead before. Yet he seemed to think she had out-lived her usefulness, now. And he wanted Eben to take care of it. Too bad really. Eben liked Ada.

* * *

Las Vegas, NV

July 23rd, 6:02 pm

The first thing Rebecca noticed upon stepping into Jill and Carlos' living room was Claire Redfield, looking like she was in quite a hideous mood.

"Hey Claire," said Rebecca, cautiously, waving to the older woman, "How's life?"

"Shitty," Claire mumbled in response, "Very very shitty..."

"She's just upset 'cause Chris took off without her... again," said a voice from the hall: Jill, "I wouldn't want to be him when he gets back..."

As if to further justify Jill's statement, Claire began muttering angrily about dismembering her sibling. Jill ignored the pouting woman, and moved out of the shadows to reveal herself in all her heavily pregnant glory. She grinned at Rebecca, then promptly proceeded to ignore her, just as she had Claire, choosing instead to focus her attention on Billy.

"And so the mysterious soldier finally makes his appearance," she said, holding out her hand for the man to shake, "Jill Oliveira."

"Billy Coen," Billy replied, taking Jill's hand.

"You're shorter than I thought you'd be, from what Rebecca told me."

Billy threw a smirk in Rebecca's direction, at that, replying easily, "Any descriptions of height should be taken with a grain of salt coming from someone who still can't reach the top cupboards in her house."

Jill laughed aloud at that, while Rebecca glared at them both. "Sure, make fun of the short person," she said, crossing her arms, "Just wait, one of these days, my being so small is going to be an advantage..."

* * *

Beneath the Nevada Desert

July 23rd, 6:10 pm

Ada paced about her quarters like a caged tiger. _What am I going to do?_ She knew why Wesker was sending her with Eben, and it wasn't because he was a fucking rookie.

She knew what Eben was; Wesker's personal lapdog-assassin. Probably the only man in the entire facility who shared Wesker's sheer lack of emotion, when it came to killing... Something Ada found both intriguing and immensely disturbing at the same time.

But it wouldn't matter what she found interesting, or creepy, if he was going to kill her. He would, too, if Wesker ordered it. Eben had killed people he'd said were friends, just because Wesker told him too. And if Ada was being sent into Vegas with him, it would likely mean one of them was going to die. One of them, because she wouldn't go down without a fight. Eben was good; Ada liked to think that she was better... But that was beside the point. The point was that Wesker had finally tired of her, and wanted her dead. Worse, he likely knew that she was aware of his reason behind sending Eben with her. Which meant he would anticipate her trying to leave before Monday, and would likely do something to... "persuade" her to stick around. Persuasion meaning threatening a certain ex-cop.

And if she stuck around... Well, Eben would try to kill her... possibly succeed, and Wesker would win anyway.

None of her options were sounding very appealing.

* * *

Las Vegas, NV

Carlos and Billy were introduced, and thankfully seemed to get on quite well. Claire might have liked the newcomer, if she had even bothered to say anything other than a mumbled "hi" and the occasional insult thrown at Carlos, whom was making not-so-veiled hints that she should cheer up, or be gloomy elsewhere. One such hint even earned the man quite the rude gesture from the woman, after which he decided it was best to leave her be.

Whilst Claire kept to herself, and remained totally silent once Carlos stopped pestering her, the others talked amongst themselves, avoiding any topics that might lead to talk of Umbrella, or Raccoon City. The "dinner" part of it all turned out to simply be pizzas, which, upon delivery, were getting chilled, and had to be reheated. No one really cared. Oddly enough, Billy found he didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest, which he should have. After all, he was in a room with two ex-cops, and worse, a former Umbrella employee. Yet here he was, actually laughing at something Carlos had said- or maybe he was laughing at the fact that the "something" had resulted in a quick slap on the back of the man's head, from Jill- and generally enjoying himself. Something he hadn't done in a long time.

Eventually, Claire left, apparently annoyed with the cheeriness that was threatening to pull her from her dour mood- this was evident from the way she would start to smile every so often.

"She'll be back to normal by morning," Jill commented, once Claire was gone, "Well, as normal as she can be when she's plotting her brother's death."

"He takes off a lot, then?" Billy inquired, curious about the younger Redfield's hostility towards her sibling, after Rebecca had described them as being quite close.

"Enough to make Claire watch him like a hawk," Carlos answered, "He still manages to sneak away. I'd rather face a horde of zombies then deal with that woman when she's pissed at Chris."

"You'd always rather face zombies that deal with Claire," Jill said, getting up from her chair, with a bit of difficulty, "Don't blame it on her bad mood."

"Well, she still accuses me of stealing you from her brother..." Carlos protested.

Jill rolled her eyes at the obviously over-used excuse, and changed the subject, "Come on, thief, I need you to help me get something out of the attic." As she spoke, she tugged on Carlos' shirt, in a mock-attempt to pull him to his feet.

With an exaggerated sigh, Carlos got up, "Fine... But you can just tell me what you need... I'm not lifting you up there."

"Was that hinting at me being fat?" Jill turned towards Rebecca, one eyebrow raised.

"Why, I think it was, Jill," Rebecca replied, not bothering to hide her amusement.

"And so do I," Carlos chimed in, earning a glare from Jill, "You can hit me later. For now, upstairs."

"Good idea," Billy heard Jill say as the couple headed for the stairs, "I can shove you over the railing, when we get to the top."

Snickering, Billy spoke, without looking at his companion, "There's walking on the wild side, and then there's just plain stupid."

Rebecca turned towards him, and grinned, "I didn't tell her he was an idiot for no reason."

Billy, unaware of Rebecca's movement, turned as well, intending to ask her if the quest for something from the attic was a hint that it was time to leave. He stopped short, however, when he found that he was no more than a hair's width from the woman. Rebecca looked equally surprised by this turn of events, but despite that fact, she made no attempt to turn away... In fact, she leaned closer. Billy might have admired her boldness, if not for a total loss of all intelligent thought as he felt her lips collide with his. Momentarily stunned, Billy didn't respond right away. Noticing this, Rebecca pulled away abruptly, going slightly pink, and attempting to force out some sort of apology. Billy fought the urge to laugh at the idea that any apology was needed, and chose instead to save the woman at least some of her dignity by shutting her up with another kiss.

Rebecca's eyes remained wide open for a moment, as she tried to process what exactly was happening._ For the love of God, stop _thinking_ please, _part of her mind screamed at her. _Thank you!_ it added, as her eyes slid shut, and both hands moved to pull Billy as close to her as she could...

"Jill, Carlos, you guys- whoa! O-kay... Not what I was expecting...You?"

As they had been otherwise occupied, neither Billy nor Rebecca had heard the door open. Hearing the voice, which Rebecca recognized as Leon's, they parted... though it was done slowly, and reluctantly. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Leon wasn't alone.

"Activity-wise," said his companion, Jonathan Caine, dryly, "yes... People-wise, no."

Rebecca felt her face grow warm, as she glared at the two men... whether for interrupting, or for their comments, she wasn't sure. She almost smirked in triumph when she noticed Billy had gone slightly red as well. He just hid it better than she did. Her train of thought was interrupted when Caine cleared his throat loudly. Both Billy and Rebecca re-focused their attention on the intruders.

"_So_," said Leon, arms crossed, "Is there something wrong with your couch, Becky, or do you enjoy putting disturbing images in my head?"

Rebecca grabbed one of the pillows off the couch, and gave new meaning to the term "throw pillow" when she chucked it at his head, speaking as she did so, "Leon, Caine, this is Billy. Billy, Leon, and Caine."

Billy gave the men a two-fingered salute, as they responded with simple nods. "So you're the reason Becky won't go out with me," Leon said, with a playful grin, "I'd been wondering." Billy raised one eyebrow in Rebecca's direction at this, as the woman rolled her eyes. She was saved thinking up a comeback by the reappearance of their host and hostess.

As Leon proceeded to tell them exactly what they had walked in on, Rebecca was dreaming up places where she might hide a body. Jill was never going to let her be, now. Billy, to his credit, took the teasing, and jabs in stride, and even made quite a few stinging remarks of his own. All in good fun, of course. Rebecca tuned it all out, choosing instead to dwell on that kiss. That _she_ had actually been bold enough to start. That was odd in and of its self; just because she'd imagined it didn't mean she'd actually thought she'd do it. Yet, she had... And suddenly the prospect of going home, and being totally alone with her companion was totally different than it had been only five minutes before. A more appealing one, yes, but also terrifying. Though, the possibilities of what could happen lessened the terror...

She was pulled from her train of thought- probably a good thing, since much more of that track, audience or no, and she might have tackled Billy then and there- by Caine and Leon finally getting around to the reason for their sudden visit.

"Got a message from Chris just as me'n Tandy were heading out," said Caine, ignoring the sudden signs of interest at the mention of him and Tandy together, "Says he's found somethin', where-ever he is. Didn't say where. He just said it's lookin' like Umbrella's got somethin' planned for good ol' Sin City."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca saw Jill's hand immediately search for her husband's. They'd thought, like everyone else, that Umbrella was mostly gone... That at least there wouldn't be another incident like Raccoon City. It had only been recently that news of Umbrella resurfacing had reached them, and even then, the information had been so vague, it was hard to tell if anything would come of it. But Chris wouldn't have said anything if he didn't think it was really going to happen. The question was, what exactly did Umbrella have in mind? Were they going to set up shop there, or where they going to turn it into another Raccoon?

Rebecca found herself hoping that Jill and Carlos would get out the city the moment everyone was out the door. It would kill them to cut and run, she knew, but with Jill barely a month away from having the baby, no matter _what _Umbrella had planned, they couldn't afford to take chances.

"Any idea what's being planned?" Carlos asked, squeezing Jill's fingers.

Leon shrugged, "Chris was rather vague- he sent me the same e-mail- he just said anyone who wants to leave needs to do it soon."

"I reckon Tandy'll want to leave," said Caine, "She's not keen on tryin' her luck in another outbreak. I'll stay... See if I can't find somethin' on all this. Maybe try to stop it from happenin'."

"I'm staying," said Leon, "If Umbrella's planning something here... Well, I've got... and old friend... Who might show up to help us out."

"What about Claire?" Jill asked, avoiding the issue of whether or not she was leaving.

"She took off half an hour ago, cussin' up a storm, sayin' she was gonna find her brother, and drag him home by the ear, if she had to," Caine informed her, suddenly laughing, as if the mental image the statement produced tickled him. Though, when Rebecca thought about it, it was funny. Unfortunately, worry didn't allow her to laugh. She managed a slight smile though.

"I'm staying," she said, interrupting Caine's chuckle.

"Rebecca-" Billy began, speaking for the first time since they'd been informed of possible trouble.

"Don't," Rebecca stopped him before he could tell her it would be smarter to leave, "I'm staying... Leon and Caine will need all the help they can get." She paused for a moment, and heard Carlos start to speak. She'd been expecting that. She turned to face him, and Jill, cutting him off before he could finish even the first word of his protest, "Don't say you'll do it. You and Jill need to be as far away from here as possible."

Carlos snapped his mouth shut, as Jill said quietly, "I hate it, but she's right..."

Having nipped the idea of Carlos playing hero in the bud, Rebecca turned to her other obstacle: Billy. Leon and Caine knew it was pointless to argue with her, so she'd get no resistance from them. "You can leave if you want," she wasn't sure if she wanted him to, or not, "but I'm staying."

Billy sighed, and was silent for a while, before finally saying, "Well, Miss Do-It-Yourself, if I leave who's going to keep you out of trouble if the shit hits the fan?"

* * *

July 23rd, 8:00 pm

"We'll leave in the morning," Jill said to Rebecca, as she hugged the younger woman goodbye. "If you change your mind..."

Rebecca shook her head, as she was released, "Nah... Just wait... In a couple of days, you'll be getting a call to let you know we got the bastards before they did anything."

"Looking forward to it, Shrimp," said Carlos, as he too hugged Rebecca.

Once she was free, Rebecca turned and headed down the sidewalk to where Billy was leaning against her truck, waiting for her. She tossed him the keys, as he had assured her he'd made note of the way they'd taken to get here, and knew how to get back to her place, and since _she_ didn't particularly feel like driving... Sighing, she climbed into the truck, practically slamming the door.

"You okay?" Billy asked, as he got in.

"Yeah... Just hoping this turns out to be a false alarm."

"Me too, Sweetheart, me too..."

As they headed off, Billy's hand found Rebecca's, and she allowed herself a small smile as their fingers intertwined... But that was all. The panic bells ringing in the back of her head prevented her from fully enjoying just having phsyical contact with the man, after a decade of nothing but words printed on a screen. As she tightened her grip on Billy's hand, she sighed again. It was going to be a long drive home...

* * *

NOTE: before anyone starts saying the Billy/Becca thing happened to fast: Remember that they HAVE been in constant contact since Raccoon City, and both fully admit to having an interest in the other...

also, it's really hard to start a believable romance AFTER the zombies are loose... trust me, I've tried... And since it won't be much longer till the zombies are loose on the streets...

now... push the little purple button next to submit review, and I'll give you your own personal fully trained Zombie... Goes after brains on command! :p


	4. Chapter 3

I got this done rather quickly as well, all things considered...

the beginning of this one gave me hell, but I had to get it out of my system before we get to the monsters. I want absolutely NO critique on the opening section of this chapter. I am fully aware of my own inadequacies when it comes to writing such scenes.

By the way, if you catch the Phantom of the Opera ref. in here, let me know.

Also, thanks to Philomenka, and Wen for reviewing on the last chapter. Ya'll review again now, y'hear? :p

there is a bit of chinese in this chapter, and I have no clue if it's accurate... I used an online translator, and they aren't known for being totally accurate. If you want to know what it supposedly means, let me know.

Oh and since it's mentioned again twice in this chapter: I am aware that Rebecca's eyes are blue, in Zero and UC. I think in the original RE, she had green eyes though. She also originally had red hair, not brown, but I let that one slide, and as was mentioned in the first chapter, she now dyes her hair red...

enough jabber-jawing, here's the story

* * *

**_Chapter Three_**

Las Vegas, NV

July 23rd, 8:54 pm

Rebecca was elbow-deep in hot water. The moment she and Billy had arrived home, she'd immediately set about finding a task that would distract her from what Caine and Leon had told them. Unfortunately the only thing that needed doing was the dishes, and she was almost out of those. She knew she must look insane, worrying about getting the house clean after she'd been informed that she may well not _have_ a house soon, but she needed to do _something_.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who needed a distraction, either. Through the window in front of the sink, she could see Billy, under the gigantic palm tree that had taken up root in the back yard, smoking _another_ cigarette. She'd lost count of how many he'd gone through sometime during her crusade against the silverware.

As she began to tackle the bacon-grease-coated frying pan, she saw Billy toss his cigarette aside, and head for the door. Not wanting to be caught watching him, Rebecca focused her attention on the losing battle with the grease; the water was getting too chilled, and the soap too scarce to really do any good, but still she scrubbed.

Billy came through the door, looking as though he was still deep in thought over something. He shoved Fizzgig and Jinx aside with his foot, when they tried to get past him, and out the open door. Both cats turned and left the kitchen the moment the door shut, as they knew there was no longer a chance for them to get outside. Billy payed them no mind, focusing his attention on Rebecca, and her war with the frying pan, instead... The warning that anyone who wanted out, needed to get out now, and Rebecca's determination to stay in the city had made up his mind about something, which that kiss had first put in his mind to begin with; to hell with waiting. They were both adults and both kne-

BANG!

Rebecca had apparently become frustrated with the pan, as she had slammed it on to the counter, with a muttered curse. Though Billy knew her frustration had next to nothing to do with a little grease. She was worried, and was taking it out on the dishes. Billy moved towards her, unsure of exactly what he intended to do. Rebecca either heard him, or was hoping he was their, for she turned towards him, and immediately pressed herself against him, burying her face against his chest. Billy embraced her, pressing his lips against the top of her head.

"I knew they weren't gone," Rebecca said, her voice muffled by Billy's shirt, "I knew Umbrella wasn't dead, yet... But I didn't think they'd even consider something like Raccoon again..."

"We don't know that they are," Billy reasoned, "All we know is that Chris thinks they _might_ be planning something."

"Chris doesn't operate on rumors. They're planning something... The problem is we don't know _what_."

"Then we'll find out," Billy took hold of the woman's shoulders, and pushed her away from him slightly, and made her look up at him, "We'll find out and we'll deal with whatever problem we happen to come across."

He wasn't sure who moved first, though both were likely equally to blame, but, whoever's fault, the result was the same; their lips met in a tentative brush, parted, then came together again in a gentle kiss. They parted again for a moment, sapphire eyes locking with emerald ones, then both moved towards the other simultaneously, meeting in the middle. Rebecca's arms snaked around Billy's neck, as she tried to pull herself as close to him as she could. Billy helped with this task when he wrapped both arms around her waist, practically crushing her to him, while lifting her up, off the ground. He nipped gently at her lower lip, at which the woman let out a small gasp. Billy used her open mouth to his full advantage, his tongue sliding easily to tangle hotly with hers.

Even as their lungs started to call for air, they only deepened the kiss. Neither felt anything except for the overwhelming need to be as close to the other as was physically possible.

Only when it was breathe or pass out did they separate, and then it was only for as long as was needed to suck in a minuscule amount of air. Nothing but them existed, at that moment; nothing but the steadily intensifying desire... Neither one particularly noticed or cared that at some point they had started to move towards the open door of Rebecca's bedroom. Rebecca only fully noticed where they were when she felt Billy's fingers brush against the now-exposed skin of her hip. Any thoughts she might have voiced on their location, however, were driven out of her head, when Billy's hand slid under her shirt to cup one breast. Rebecca gasped at the contact, momentarily breaking their semi-permanent kiss. Only momentarily.

She only allowed their lips to lose contact again when Billy's free hand inched her shirt up, and Rebecca, annoyed with his slow pace, decided to just pull it off. Looking at Billy, she also decided that he had far too many clothes on for her taste, and something needed to be done about the problem, immediately. _May as well be on even playing ground,_ she thought, as she tugged at his shirt, which was still tucked firmly into his jeans. Billy, thankfully, took the hint, and pulled the wife-beater over his head, tossing it aside. Green eyes smoky with lust, Rebecca ran her fingers slowly over the exposed skin, as she stood on her toes to kiss her partner once again. As she did so, she pulled them both back, unaware of exactly where she was standing, and the backs of her knees collided with the edge of the bed, sending her toppling onto the mattress with a soft thud. Billy wasted no time in taking full advantage of this new position, effectively pinning Rebecca to the mattress. He kissed her once more before he turned his attention to her now mostly-bare chest, and shoulders, placing light, lingering kisses on the sensitive skin, adding the occasional graze of teeth.

A slight moan forced its self out of Rebecca, and she felt Billy's lips curve into a self-satisfied smile against the tender skin of her throat. He continued to kiss and nip his way back up to her lips, though he had to be cheeky about it, allowing them only the briefest contact before pulling away again. By the time he stopped his teasing, and actually kissed her, Rebecca was getting rather impatient. Deepening the kiss, she occupied her hands with removing Billy's jeans. She had gotten the button and zipper undone, and had just started to slip her slim fingers beneath the waistband when Billy pulled away from her, abruptly, looking down at her as though seeing her for the first time...

"Rebecca..." he started, hesitantly, for all his 'to hell with waiting' thoughts earlier...

He didn't need to finish what he was going to say. Rebecca understood. If they actually did this, there was no turning back... No salvaging their friendship later, if things went south... And it would mean an even more unbearable goodbye, when he left... _If_ he left. Rebecca made up her mind in an instant- she'd spent too much of her life playing it safe, after Raccoon, never taking chances, always thinking 'what if something goes wrong? And she'd been waiting far too long for this'- and pulled Billy towards her, capturing his lips with hers once again. Now, they were past the point of no return. No turning back, now, no second thoughts.

Not that coherent thought was going to be possible...

* * *

July 24th, 11:45 am

Ringing... Ringing. What was ringing, and how did she make it stop? All would be right with the world but for that infernal sound... In an attempt to escape it, Rebecca snuggled closer into the warm body next to her, hoping that somehow the strong arms around her waist might block out the sound. Finally deciding that she wasn't going to be avoiding the sound, she rolled over, and sat up. Her eyes widened as she saw the bright rays of sunlight filtering through parts in the thick drapes that covered the window. She glanced at the clock; almost noon.

"Shit, work," she muttered, glancing about for her phone which was no doubt she source of the annoying ringing... She leaned over the edge of the bed, and found the phone still in the pocket of the jeans she'd been wearing the night before. She glanced at the name, and swore again. Knowing she was going to regret it, she flipped the phone open, "What, Toby?" she grimaced, and reminded herself to be quiet, when Billy stirred, next to her.

"Rebecca? Where the fuck are you?" the whiny, and nasal voice of her ex/co-worker asked, "Doc Robbins is pitching a fit."

"At home, in bed." No point in lying. She felt Billy sit up, but didn't turn to look at him.

Apparently Toby mistook her groggy tone for something else, "What? You got the bug that's been going around?"

...Well, to hell with not lying... "uh, yeah... Listen, I'll be in tomorrow if I ca-" she was cut off by a sudden shiver of delight caused by Billy pressing light kisses to her shoulder.

"Rebecca?" Billy's sleep-slurred voice sounded in her ear. Praying that Toby hadn't heard, she held one finger up to signal her lover- it felt good to call him that- to wait a moment.

"Who was that?" Toby's nasal voice took on a similar pitch to nails on chalkboard, "Rebecca, you're not si-"

Rebecca cut him off, as quickly as she could, "I said I'll be in tomorrow if I can... Don't call back, I won't be picking up." As she snapped the phone shut, she couldn't help a slight smirk. _Payback's a bitch, ain't it Toby? All those times I had to cover for you, because you were "sick" in bed..._ With that happy thought, she dropped the cellphone on the floor. Yawning, she scratched at her head, only adding to the rat's nest that had formerly been known as her hair; not that she cared much.

"Work?" Billy asked, and Rebecca finally turned to look at him. Fortunately for him, his hair wasn't quite the mess that hers was, though it was no longer slicked back, and strands fell to obscure his face. It seemed determined to stay like that, too, for even when he ran a hand through the black and silver locks, in an attempt to shove it back, it fell forward again.

"Yeah, work," Rebecca replied, looking at the clock again, "I think we might have over-slept just a bit..." A bit meaning a little over six hours, as she was supposed to have been up by 5:30, and at work by six. Considering she hadn't actually gone to sleep until about the time she should have been getting up...

Giving her a cocky smirk, Billy said, "I don't recall much sleep, Princess," losing the smirk, he continued, "So, why not just go in late?"

"Hmmm," Rebecca pretended to seriously consider the question, "Spend the day cutting up dead guys, and having my boss chew me out for sleeping in, or spend the day with you? Tough choice. Besides, if Robbins thinks I'm sick, I'll be spared the sermon, since he'll feel sorry for me."

Chuckling, Billy fell back, pulling Rebecca with him, so that her head was resting on his chest, and he had one arm around her shoulders. Once she was comfortable, Rebecca continued, "I need to be here in case Leon and Caine call anyway. Might need a hand with something."

Billy didn't respond to that one. He had almost forgotten the warning they had received the night before. Almost. Staying silent, he moved his thumb back and forth over Rebecca's shoulder, wondering if perhaps he could convince her to leave. He doubted it, but it might be worth a shot. If Umbrella intended to turn Vegas into another Raccoon, what happened if they didn't manage to stop them? If the virus got out? The idea of being caught in the middle of an outbreak wasn't an appealing one, and, frankly, was rather frightening. Mostly because there was always the chance that something would happen to Rebecca... And the night before had nothing to do with that fear; it was left over from the training facility, when protecting her had been nothing more than a way to keep his word. Sometime during that ordeal, he'd come to actually _care_ about what happened to the girl...

That strange affection had simply grown into something more, over the years, despite their lack of contact other than the e-mails. But no matter the reason for it, the idea of being unable to protect the woman was a terrifying one. Billy was pulled from his thoughts when he felt Rebecca tracing random patterns over his chest with one finger. She looked like she was deep in thought about something, and probably didn't even realize that she was tickling her partner.

The far-off, almost day-dreamy look on her face disappeared the moment the shrill ring of the house phone broke the silence that had settled over them. Rebecca sighed, in a resigned way.

"May as well go get that," she muttered, more to herself than to Billy, as she sat up. She leaned back down, for what Billy was sure was meant to be a quick kiss; he had other plans, and held the woman firmly in place as the kiss turned to anything but quick. For a moment, Rebecca almost forgot why she'd been getting up in the first place. She was reminded when the phone rang again. She made another purposefully feeble attempt to separate herself from Billy, and was delightfully unsuccessful.

Another ring.

With a frustrated groan, she managed to pull away from Billy, and get off the bed before she got too caught up to remember what she was doing.

Billy watched as she crossed the room stark naked- not that he was going to complain; the view was great- and grabbed her robe off the floor, and put it on, before leaving the room.

* * *

Beneath the Nevada Desert

July 24th, 12:03 pm

Ada strode through the halls of the facility, her high-heels clicking on the tile floors in such a way that made it obvious that she was angry. The clicking acted as a warning to anyone who didn't want to end up in the infirmary that it was time to remove themselves from sight. But Ada wasn't interested in all the lackeys. She was interested only in reaching their boss, whom stood at the end of the catwalk that overlooked the main part of the lab. She knew he knew that she was heading towards him; his hearing was incredible. She also knew he was ignoring her, which meant that he knew why she was looking for him. The clicking of her heels changed as she stepped from tile onto metal.

"Do be careful, Ada," Wesker commented, casually, without looking at his seething spy, "You'll break a heel if you walk much harder."

"You _lao-shu huai-dan_! You revoked my access to the exits, you _'er de yi-ge mu-gou_!" Ada spat, paying him no mind, and barely noticing that she had slipped into using Chinese.

"Language, dear," Wesker said, his tone similar to that of a condescending parent, speaking to a child, "And, I can't have you scurrying off and ruining the surprise for your little boy-toy Leon. Be patient, Ada, you'll be free to leave on Monday. Provided you follow your orders."

"What? Can't kill me yourself, so you want me to stick around until your little pet can?" Ada shot back, "Too much of a coward?" She didn't even see her boss move. All she knew was that there was a sudden searing pain in her jaw, and that her feet had left the ground. She hit the corner of the door-frame, and fell to the floor in a heap, gasping for the air that her collision with the metal door-frame had knocked out of her. She wanted desperately to get up, and not appear weak, but she couldn't manage it.

Footsteps let her know Wesker had approached her, even before she looked up. She remained silent, as she wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, and glared at the man looming over her. "You would do well to remember who you're dealing with, dear-heart," said Wesker, face expressionless, "Now go, before I decide I want you dead here and now."

Ada shoved herself to her feet, rubbing her jaw. For a moment, it seemed as if she was going to say something, but instead she turned, and walked away.

* * *

July 24th, 12:15 pm

The call that disrupted Rebecca's lovely idea of staying in bed for the rest of the day turned out to be from Jill, letting her know that she and Carlos with Tandy. Rebecca considered asking Jill _how_ she knew she'd be at home, not a work, but decided it would probably be in her best interests if she didn't know the answer... Once she'd managed to escape what could have been a lengthy conversation with Jill, had pulled on a t-shirt that reached her knees, and had cleaned up the mess the cats had made in the kitchen over-night, as they had not been locked in the laundry room, Rebecca wondered if her original plan for the day might still be salvaged. This hope was dashed when she heard water running, in the bathroom. She briefly entertained the idea of joining Billy in the shower, but decided against it, as she _did_ have to be available if Leon and Caine found anything... And she needed to see what she herself could find out.

She knew Leon would be doing some digging with some of the few contacts he still had left in government service, and Caine would be getting in touch with his own contacts... That left her with searching for info via her computer. That task would be made easier if Tandy or Claire were around, as they where the hacker extraordinaires of the group, and chances were, there was going to be a fair amount of illegal activity going on from her little laptop, in order to get the info she needed... But, since Claire was God knew where, and Tandy was in L.A., she'd have to make due on her own...

Powering up her laptop, and making herself comfortable in her recliner, Rebecca set about trying to find _anything_ that might give them a clue as to what Umbrella had in mind.

What seemed like an eternity later, she still didn't have a damned thing. Muttering grimly, she found her music folder, and went about setting up a long playlist. Music always helped her relax, and boy did she need some relaxation at the moment. With her musical sanctuary up and running, she resumed her search for information, singing along with the songs, in her head. _I'm steady but I'm startin' to shake. I don't know how much more I can take. Well this is it now, everybody get down, this is all I can take, this is how a heart breaks. You take a hit now, you feel it break down, make you stay wide awake, this is how a heart breaks... _

She was distracted from her crusade, and mental concert when she noticed Billy enter the room out of the corner of her eye; dressed only in a pair of black sweatpants, his hair still damp from his shower. "Find anything?" he asked, stretching out on the couch.

Rebecca shook her head, both to tell him no, and to rid her mind of the ideas drifting into it, at the sight of him, "Nothing... If Umbrella is planning something, they're doing a good job of keeping it quiet."

"Maybe your buddy was wrong."

"It's possible, but I don't want to just stop searching, until we're sure..."

Billy nodded in agreement, as he turned on the TV and began flipping through channels, stopping on any news channel he came across. Rebecca doubted there'd be anything of use, there, but decided to keep that opinion to herself. She searched the table beside her chair for her headphones, so she could continue to listen to her music. She finally found them, plugged them in, and put them on, and resumed her search. _I see you, 'cause you won't get out of my way, I hear you, 'cause you won't quit screamin' my name, I feel you, 'cause you won't stop touchin' my skin, I need you, they're comin' to take you away..._ She was momentarily distracted from her task when something on the tv screen caught her eye; a news report on Phoenix Industries, apparently... She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could read the basic gist of the story, which was spanning the bottom of the screen; _Phoenix Releases New Flu Vaccine._

Rebecca rolled her eyes at that. Flu vaccines did nothing but create stronger strains of the virus. One of these days, a strain of the flu was going to come about that was like Captain Trips, from one of her favorite novels. In other words; the human race was one day going to realize that they had seriously fucked themselves over, but as was typical, it would be too late by that point since ninety-nine percent of the population would be dead... Deciding the article was nothing interesting, she went back to work, though she glanced at the tv now and then. They were still going on about Phoenix. Phoenix was the new Umbrella as far as pharmaceuticals went. The company had sprung up as if from nowhere, five years before, and had quickly picked up the slack that the fall of Umbrella had caused. The main office was there, in Vegas. The company had interested Rebecca, at first, and when she'd moved to Vegas, she'd considered seeing if she might get a job, as a chemist. But the memories of what had happened with Umbrella had kept her from doing so. And now Phoenix had Vegas under it's thumb, just as Umbrella'd had Raccoon. But, as far as she knew, they had no zombies in the backyard, so they remained just another power-hungry company to add to the long list of power-hungry companies.

She had just turned her attention back to her computer, when she saw a new notice appear on the tv; _New Logo To Cause Problems For Phoenix?_ Curious, she pulled off her headphones, so she could hear.

"Along with it's new flu vaccine, Phoenix Industries has revealed a new logo that has a lot of people worried," said the reporter, "Few can forget the events of 1998, when the Umbrella Corporation was accused of being responsible for the viral outbreak in Raccoon City, but Phoenix has refreshed our memories with their new logo..."

The screen changed to show the logo that was causing such a fuss, and Rebecca swore her heart stopped for a moment. It seemed harmless enough at first glance: a stylized phoenix, in various shades of red, white, grey and black. But at the center, almost blending in with the other colors was the oh-so-hated Umbrella logo.

Rebecca turned to look at Billy, and he did the same. They stared at each other for a moment, before speaking simultaneously.

"Fuck..."

* * *

The song lyrics used in this are Rob Thomas' "This is How a Heart Breaks" and Breaking Benjamin's "Away"... Why those? Because that's what I was listening to when I wrote it... If I'd been listening to Godsmack, you'd have seen lyrics for "Voodoo" or "Bad Religion" :p

For pics of the new Phoenix/Umbrella logo: check my profile, there'll be a link to both versions of it, in there.

The novel mentioned is "The Stand" by Stephen King

Now... please review? Please? Reviews keep me happy... I write more when I'm happy...

* * *


	5. Chapter 4

Here's chapter 4 for your enjoyment. Sorry it took as long as it did, but writer's block was making me it's bitch for a few days...

Thanks much to those who reviewed last chapter!

Jay: I was worried about it being a bit slow, but I'm trying something different with this fic, and didn't want to just jump right into the action like I usually do...

Redemption: Thanks for the compliments! I get SO paranoid about the characters...

Ren: -tackles and hugs- I know I've already said it, but thanks for reviewing! Hope you continue to enjoy the story

those who are reading but not reviewing: please review! reviews keep me happy, and I write more when I'm happy

* * *

_**Chapter Four**_

Beneath the Nevada Desert

July 24th, 2008, 4:00 pm

"This isn't going to work."

Eben fought the urge to roll his eyes. He was, in all honesty, surprised that Ada had not been hit again. She clearly hadn't learned her lesson the first time, which was also surprising considering the bruise that now marred her beautiful face, and a split lower lip. She _was_ at least staying farther away from Wesker than she had before. Not that that would do much good, if she really did piss the boss off. Either way, the woman had been insisting for the last hour that Wesker's little scheme wasn't going to work. She had even suggested that his taunting of the STARS with the new logo was going to be the nail in his coffin, for now everyone would know Phoenix's true colors.

Wesker had only calmly informed her that the broadcast of the new logo had gone nowhere but Las Vegas, and anyone who would make the connection would be dead by the beginning of the week, anyway. Eben had to give the boss props for his plan... On Monday, the shit would hit the fan, but by then, the city would be completely cut off from the rest of the world. There would be no calls for help getting out, no warnings. The extreme cases of the flu going around was a perfect cover for why so many people were going to be sick as dogs for the next several days; it had even been the perfect cover for distributing the virus. And when the time came to get rid of the city, once all the test data had been recovered, well, with things the way they were now, the first thing that most people would think was "terrorist attack"...

So, Wesker got to try out his new toys, destroy them, and there would be nothing tying back to the company. Except for maybe the few STARS left in the city. They had already been on the alert, thanks to the information that had "accidentally" leaked to Redfield, and now were likely scrambling for more information, now that Wesker had made his little jab at them. If they survived, which wasn't likely, it didn't really matter, for no one was going to believe them anyway. If they died, well that was a few more out of the way. But it was Eben's job to make sure they _didn't_ survive. Exterminating the STARS... something Wesker himself had failed to do...

_Speaking of the STARS..._ Eben's mind switched tracks, _the only STARS members left are Chambers, Valentine, and Redfield... A majority of their group is strays they've picked up along the way... Why keep calling them the STARS?... Then again, there's not really much else to call them... _ He was brought back to the real world when he heard Wesker speaking.

"This _is_ working, Ada... Flawlessly in fact..." He paused a moment, before turning to Eben, "Eben, go and make sure Robertson and Cavenaugh have everything set for the power plant."

"Yes, sir," Eben nodded, and started to walk away, before the boss spoke, yet again.

"Ada, dear, go with him."

Ada didn't even nod at the man. She simply turned, and walked away, with a muttered "Let's go," to Eben. Both remained silent, as they walked through the dull, white halls. Ada was still pissed, that much Eben could tell. He'd always been good at reading people, but Ada had always remained more of a mystery than Wesker, and it was unusual for her to let her feelings show so much. Something had gotten under her skin, and it likely had little to do with the boss, or the bruise on her face. He even doubted it had much to do with the fact that she was being sent into Vegas with him, and there was no way she didn't know what that meant... Wesker may as well have put a neon sign over her head that read "Eben's next victim" when he'd put them together. Death didn't strike Eben as something Ada was afraid of- and if he was going to be honest, if anyone got away from him, it would be her- so, no... Not that either.

It was something else... Or some_one_ else.

He'd overheard enough conversations to gather that there was someone Ada didn't want harmed. And knowing Wesker, that weakness had been exploited, time and time again.

"Pissing him off isn't going to do you any good," Eben finally said, catching Ada off-guard with the sudden sound.

"It cheers me up," Ada said, sarcastically.

"Only until you realize you're fucked."

"If you mean I'm only going to make Wesker kill me sooner; it doesn't really matter. If he wants me dead, he'll kill me. It could be this afternoon, it could be in another twenty years... He could do it himself, he could have you kill me... No matter how long it takes, or who does it, if Albert wants me dead, he'll get what he wants eventually."

Well, he couldn't argue with that logic...

* * *

Las Vegas, NV

July 24th, 5:00 pm

Billy paced back and forth around the living room, while rain berated everything outside, and the occasional lightning strike illuminated the pitch-black sky. A storm had started building up earlier that afternoon, and it hadn't stopped raining since. Pouring might have been a more accurate term, actually. But it wasn't because of the storm, or the occasional blackouts that had Billy pacing. What had him pacing was the fact that he had no idea where Rebecca was, and had no idea how to go about finding her. After she'd seen the news broadcast about Phoenix, she had yanked on a pair of shorts, and had been out the door, barefoot, before Billy could stop her, and had taken off in her truck. As Billy had taken a cab to get to the house in the first place, he'd had no way to follow her, and since she'd left without her cellphone, he had no way to contact her either...

That had been four hours previously, and she still wasn't back, still hadn't called. Billy couldn't help but wonder if maybe Phoenix/Umbrella had caught her... No... No, he couldn't even board that train of thought... But it was a possibility... Rebecca could expose them, before they were ready, and-... No. Not going there. Not going there at all...

He continued with his pacing. He could practically hear his mother shouting at him to stop, that he was going to wear a hole through the floor. If they hadn't been long in their graves, his brother and sister might have put in their two cents worth; Alison egging him on, saying things to make him worry- that brat had always taken delight in making her younger siblings squirm- and Cole telling him not to worry... Billy shook his head, ridding it of the memories of his long-dead family. The problem was in the here and now, and he still didn't have a way to deal with it. So far, this was _not_ turning out to be a good day. Unless a zombie suddenly burst through the door, he didn't see how it could get much worse...

Ironically enough, about the time that decidedly depressing thought came to mind, the front door opened. A dripping wet, and very upset looking Rebecca stepped in, and slammed the door shut behind her. The woman who stood in the entry way looked less like the woman Billy had found the morning before, and more like the scared teenager he'd known a decade ago; her overly-large t-shirt was made to seem all the larger from the water that weighed it down, her still-bare feet were covered in mud, and her entire body was trembling- though whether it was from the chill of the rain, or not was debatable... She stared at Billy for a moment, pushing her wet hair out of her face, then finally spoke;

"It's Raccoon City all over again..." her voice was cold, not betraying a single one of the unshed tears that Billy could see welling up in her eyes, "The LVPD wouldn't listen... They're just going to stick their heads in the damn sand, and ignore what's going on."

As she was speaking, Billy grabbed the blanket that was draped over the back of one of the chairs, and moved towards the woman. When he wrapped the blanket around her, Rebecca let herself fall forward against him, pressing her face against his chest.

"What're we going to do, if we can't get anyone to listen?" Rebecca mumbled, as Billy embraced her.

"There's only so much you _can_ do, Honey," Billy replied. Though, right then, he didn't really give a shit about the LVPD, and their idiocy. He was too relieved that Rebecca hadn't gone out and gotten herself killed...

"You'd think that after everything that's happened, _someone_ would have developed at least the brain power of a peanut..." the still-soaked woman sighed, and pulled away from Billy, shrugging off the blanket he'd wrapped around her, "I'm sorry about taking off like that... I should have waited..."

"Yeah you should have," Billy almost laughed at the look she gave him- she had clearly _not _ wanted to be agreed with- but ignored it beyond that, as he leaned down to kiss her. Rebecca returned the kiss eagerly. "Just don't do it again," Billy finished, as he pulled away.

"I won't make any promises, " Rebecca replied, "I better go change, before I end up sick, like everyone else in town..." she continued, before Billy was able to suggest that she didn't bother getting dressed at all, "Leon and Caine are supposed to be here soon... Caine said he knows a few Phoenix employees that might know something... considering that he took Leon with him, I'm guessing that any information they're to be gathering won't be given willingly..." as she spoke, she headed towards her room, carefully avoiding stepping on any of the rugs that were laid out across some of the floor.

_Beating the shit out of someone for information? Wish I was with 'em,_ Billy thought, as the bedroom door clicked shut. He moved to flop down onto the couch, with a tired sigh. He hadn't done anything, and he still felt like he was going to drift off at any second. Well, mental stress could do that to you. He ran a hand through his hair, in a pointless attempt to get it to stay back, and out of his eyes, where it had been determined to put its self all day. No good.

"Don't think I'll bother going to work in the morning," Rebecca's voice distracted him from his battle with his hair, "The only person who hasn't gotten the flu is Toby, so everyone there is going to be sick... I'd rather avoid a case of Captain Trips, if we're going to be dealing with Umbrella."

"I suppose that decision has nothing to do with the fact that you want to avoid your ex?" Billy commented idly, as he turned on the tv.

"None what-so-ever," Rebecca replied, sitting next to him.

Any sarcastic reply was cut off by yet another report on Phoenix Industries... _While the CEO of the company, Albert Atherton, refused to be interviewed about the decision to use such a controversial logo,_ the anchorman was saying, _Employees say that Atherton's reasoning behind the logo change is simply to restore faith in a once-loved symbol._

"Albert Atherton?" Billy raised an eyebrow, "Name ringin' any bells, Doll?"

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at the screen, "Yes, but I don't know why... " _Albert Atherton..._ Rebecca repeated the name in her head, trying to place it, but found the harder she tried, the more it slipped away... It was like hearing a snippet of a song, and _knowing_ that you've heard it before, but you just can't figure out where, or what the song is... She was usually rather good with names... That she couldn't place that one meant it had been a long time since she'd heard it... _Albert Atherton, Albert Atherton..._ She mentally riffled through every Umbrella employee she'd ever known, or heard about, and was only able to come up with one by the name of Albert... Albert Wesker. But that didn't fit, either-

-Unless... Rebecca was suddenly glad of her talent to remember in perfect detail just about everything she'd ever read, and went over every bit of information she'd ever seen on her former boss. And there it was; the reason she had recognized the name, but hadn't been able to place it. Like when you hear that snippet of a song, and can't figure out what it is, then when you hear the whole thing later, you wonder why you didn't get it right off the bat, Rebecca wondered why she hadn't recalled in the first place. But, it always does take hearing the whole thing for the memory to fall into place; there'd been a story on the destruction of the Arklay Mansion, and names of those whom had been presumed to be killed in the explosion, in the Raccoon City Times, and at the top of that list of names had been the name of the founder of STARS, and the captain of Alpha team; Albert Atherton-

"-Wesker."

* * *

The Bellagio

Las Vegas, NV

July 24th, 5:20 pm

Wesker smirked as he heard his name being said aloud. He was currently relaxing in a suite he checked into often, in the Bellagio, when the constant noise of the lab- or his employees- became increasingly annoying. On his laptop screen was the living room of Rebecca Chambers; he'd had all of the STARS under surveillance for a long time, though he'd never had any need to watch any of them, until the last several days. And he was glad he had; he'd been witness to the activities of Rebecca and her new boy-toy, and the possibilities for emotional torture had since sky-rocketed. If there was one thing that truly amused Albert Wesker, it was playing with people's minds, just to see how long it would take before they broke. Some people turned into blubbering idiots far too fast, others proved nearly impossible to crack. _Nearly_.

But back to the matter at hand: he'd known that if anyone would catch on to his alias, it would be Rebecca, and her uncanny memory. Not that he'd made it especially difficult to figure out. But on the other hand, it hadn't been intended to keep anyone from figuring out who he was... No one but his employees, and the STARS even knew he existed any more. The wonderful thing about being officially dead was that there was no reason to hide. His alias was only to save himself the hassle of dealing with anyone who made the connection between Albert Wesker of Phoenix Industries, and Albert Wesker of the RPD STARS unit. So, he simply used his middle name as his last, and no one was every any the wiser. Well, except for Rebecca, and Coen, but they would soon be too busy to bother telling anyone who wasn't going to die, anyway.

Of course, there was always the chance that they might make it out of the city. Over the years, he'd taken to comparing the STARS to cockroaches; you try to crush them, and they dodge your shoe, you try to nuke them, and they somehow come out of it alive. There were few foolproof ways to kill a cockroach, just as there were few foolproof ways to kill the STARS. One of those ways was to do it himself... Which reminded him, he had yet to inform Eben of a change in his mission orders. He wanted the STARS that had stayed in Vegas _dead_ and the only way he could be one hundred percent sure that they were would be to personally tear them limb from limb... The group in L.A. was of little concern to him, and Chris... Well, Chris would be being kept quite busy just as soon as the test data from Vegas was collected... And once the games in Africa had begun, well, Wesker could just slip in unnoticed by Chris, and grab the little brat that Chris called a sister... Then when he'd had his fun, he could give Chris and Claire the same treatment he intended to give to the rest of STARS... He just might take a little more time to do it...

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth, and taste," the sound of a female voice singing brought him out of his bloody fantasy, "I've been around for a long long year. Stole many a man's soul and faith."

He recognized that voice. It was the room service girl, the one who flirted with him whenever she saw him in the hotel. Shannon, she'd said her name was on _many_ occasions... She was an attractive enough girl, he supposed. Though he was no longer one to be overly excited by a woman... There were moments, however... And tonight, with the knowledge of impending victory fresh on his mind, and the images from all the ideas of ways to kill the STARS still burned into his brain... Well, he was in a damned good mood.

Knowing that by then, the girl would be at the door, preparing to knock as she brought up the bottle of champagne he'd ordered, he moved with his uncanny speed, and opened the door before she could even raise her hand.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, a smirk forming on his face, "hope you guess my name."

The girl grinned at him having finished what she'd been singing, before she could. She tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear, as she held the tray she was carrying out, expecting to get the normal treatment: a murmered "thank you" and a door shut in her face. However, to her surprise, the man she had been all but throwing herself at for months smiled at her, and moved aside, gesturing for her to come in. To Shannon, there was nothing odd about that smile. To anyone who knew Wesker, it would have seemed like the most frightening thing on earth. _Well... I already clocked out, anyway..._

Wesker's smile only grew as the blond moved past him into the room. He'd have his fun, and before the night was over, little Shannon was going to wish she'd never seen him... If she wasn't dead, by that point...

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me," Leon groaned, as Rebecca informed him, and Caine of the indentity of the CEO of Phoenix Industries.

"Sorry, Leon," said Rebecca, shaking her head, "But it's him."

"Chris is jus' gonna love this," said Caine, "He's off halfway across the world lookin' for someone who was here the whole time..."

"That's not likely an accident," Leon muttered, "Wesker probably wanted as many of us out of the city as possible before whatever he's planning happens...And do we have any idea when that will be, yet?"

_It's ringing, it's ringing, the fucking phone is ringing! It's ringing, it's ringing, the fucking phone is ringing! _All heads towards Leon as he hurried to grab his cellphone, before it could manage a third "ring". Flipping the phone open, he frowned at whatever was on the screen.

"Great," Billy said, "That damn tune is going to be stuck in my head, now."

"Start singing it in your sleep, and I'll kick you out of bed," Rebecca informed him, watching Leon, "What's up?"

"I think we just got our time frame," Leon said, his face expressionless. He tossed the phone towards Caine, who caught it, looked at the screen, then handed the object to Rebecca.

Printed on the screen was one simple word, followed by a letter:

_Monday,_

_A._

"'A'?" Billy inquired aloud, as he read over Becca's shoulder. Looking at Leon he asked, "Someone you know?"

"I have a hunch," Leon shrugged, "I told you before I had an old friend who might give us a hand." He was trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing, but with as long as Rebecca had known him, she could easily tell when something was bothering him. And the simple little text message was really getting to him.

"And this friend couldn't be a little more specific, bud?" Caine asked with a raised brow, "Monday's awful vague... Okay, so we have till Monday to figure out what in th' hell is gonna happen... I'd rather know what's gonna happen... Easier to stop it, then...Time frame is nice, but if we dunno what we're supposed to be stoppin', it jus' makes the clock tick all the louder."

Unfortunately, Caine was right...

* * *

Las Vegas, NV

July 27th, 2008, 11:59 pm

Three days. Three days, and they had found nothing. Caine's contacts proved useless, no more word was recieved from Leon's "friend", and the people in the city were more concerned with taking care of colds, and flus to listen to anything the STARS had to say. At first, the sudden increase of flu victims at caught Rebecca's attention, but no matter who she managed to examine, not a single of those that were sick had anything more than your every day case of the plain old non-lethal flu. She knew the symptoms of the existing viruses, and no one in the city had a single one of them. There were no bodies with the tell-tale signs of having been eaten in the morgue- which was both a relief, and frustrating, since Rebecca had decided to return to work, on the off chance that she'd stumble across something, and instead had been rewarded with nothing.

The only thing that kept Rebecca from tossing and turning her sleep was being held tightly by Billy. The only thing that kept her from still being awake, even a minute from midnight was being completely exhausted.

She wasn't to remain asleep for long, however.

It wasn't the echoing boom at precisely 12:00 am that woke her; it was storming again anyway, and the sound was easily mistaken for thunder. It wasn't the flash of light from the direction of the power plant; even the lightning wasn't able to wake her. No, what brought Rebecca out of a deep and troubled sleep was the _silence. _The complete and utter silence that only occurs during a power outage. When the power's on, even when you have everything turned off, there is still that underlying hum; you don't notice it, and often, when the lights are out, you'll mistake _that_ for true silence. When the power goes out, that hum is gone, and you realize that you never knew what true quiet was until then...

_That_ was what made Rebecca sit upright suddenly, and wonder what was going on. Looking out her uncovered window, she saw a very strange sight indeed; save for the faint glow of what could only be flames in the distance, Sin City had descended into total darkness.

As of 12:00 am, on Monday, July 28th, hell was beginning to be unleashed.

* * *

The Shit Hath Hittith The Fan...ith

I SWEAR there will be zombies and monsters next chapter! I promise!

A few things to note on this chapter:

Wesker's middle name: why? Because I needed an alias for him, and I've got a middle name complex... all characters are given middle names (for example, my usual name for Billy is William Jonathan... this time around he's Billy Nathaniel)...

the song the room-service girl was singing, that Wesker knew: "Sympathy for the Devil" I was determined to have some of that song in a Wesker scene SOMEWHERE... I realize I left some bits of it out, but don't really care

the fate of Shannon: let's just say you don't know kinky and violent sex until you've met Wesker... She's very very _dead_.  
Why even include such a scene: because in many fics with Wesker, if he's not paired with Chris (ew) or Claire (again, ew... he can do better than the Redfield brat) he's portrayed as being pretty much dead below the waist. I say there's still some life in him yet... though I certainly wouldn't want to be the one around when he decided he wanted to have some fun...

Leon's ringtone: that is a real ringtone... my mother uses it, and it gets stuck in my head... I find myself singing it whenever the house phone rings...

Now, a question for you all: I'm thinking about having Toby (Rebecca's whiny ex) join them, as it was mentioned that he was he only one in the morgue/police department who wasn't down with the sniffles. What do you, dear readers, think?

-grabs notepad and pencil- Now, please review? Review, and I'll put your name down on the list of future dates for Wesker... Unless you're a guy, and then I'll sign you up for a night out with Ada (caution, dates with Wesker or Ada may have the following side effects: broken bones, internal bleeding, bruising, loss of sanity, and in some cases; death. Author is not responsible for any of the preceding)


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry for the long wait on this one, guys... I was sick for like a week. And by the time I got over it, I was being hit by plot bunnies for other fics... don't worry, they won't take priority over this one. You may have noticed the change in the summary of this one, that it now says this is part 1 of a trilogy: those're the fics for which the plot bunnies work for, so TECHNICALLY I was still working on this fic... sort of... The continuation of this one... Does that count?

Anyway, this one is short, and mostly filler, as if I had gone into the things that this one sets up, it would have gotten to long, but there was also nothing else that could be done, so I just cut it short. It may not be the best, since I did write SOME while I was sick...

Thanks to Ren, and Redemption for reviewing last chapter, hope to hear from you on this one too.

Redemption: Not sure how many plot twists are in store for this particular fic, but I'm pretty sure I've come up with some zingers for the next two :p

Ren: Yes, admiring Wesker from afar is the best course of action... I suggest somewhere from space, via satellite imaging :p

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Las Vegas, NV

July 28th, 2008, time unknown

Rebecca stared out the window, hardly believing what she was seeing; Vegas, gone totally dark, save for the firey glow in the distance, and the occasional flash of lightning.

"Billy," she was unaware of the fact that she was whispering as she tried to wake her companion. "Billy!" she shook him as hard as she could, and was only rewarded with an annoyed groan as Billy rolled over, and promptly stuffed his head under his pillow- or rather, _her_ pillow... the ones in what should have been his room had yet to be touched- and to all appearances went back to sleep; if he'd been awake in the first place.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Rebecca yanked the pillow off his head, and wasted no time in hitting him with it... Hard. "Billy, wake up! Something's wrong..."

"Fuck're you doin'?" Billy mumbled groggily, as he finally sat up, yawning.

"Look out the window," was all Rebecca said.

She could see the vague outline that was Billy turn towards the window. "What the?"

"I think it was the power plant," said Rebecca, gesturing towards the faint glow of flames, that, thanks to the mass amounts of rain, was slowly fading away, "No better way to start a panic than to put people in the dark..." She scooted to the edge of the bed, leaned over and grabbed the clothes she'd discarded only hours before. She continued, as she pulled her jeans on, "We should probably check out the damage, before the place ends up swarming with cops... If it isn't already."

As Billy nodded, and went for his own clothes, Rebecca tugged her green tank-top over her head, without noticing that it was inside out. Oh well, no time to be worrying about looks. Dressed, with her shoes on, Rebecca squeezed under the bed in an attempt to reach the metal case she kept there. Since Raccoon City, any place she lived, she took her miniature armory with her, just in case. She had never actually needed it until now, though. _Let's face it_ she thought, as she dragged the case out from under the bed, _the chances that you _don't_ need a wide array of firepower tonight are slim to none..._ Not bothering to argue with her pessimistic inner voice, Rebecca dropped the case on top of the bed, and opened it.

"Damn," Billy commented, as he pulled his long-sleeved black button-down shirt on over a white tee, "You always keep the firepower under the bed?"

Rebecca didn't grace him with a reply, as she was pre-occupied with making sure that each weapon- her old STARS Samurai Edge, a 12 guage shotgun that could still knock her on her ass, a Desert Eagle, and a beaten up but still functional .357 magnum- were all loaded. This task done, she added the beretta she kept on the bedside table to the collection, then handed it, the shotgun, and the .357 to Billy, "Better safe than sorry," she said, taking the samurai edge, and eagle for herself.

"You realize if we're seen with these, we'll be tossed right into a prison cell don't you?" Billy asked, with one eyebrow raised, "Take it from me, a cell isn't somewhere you want to be."

"Then we make sure we're not seen. Let's go."

* * *

Outside, the rain was easing off slightly, but not enough to make it any easier to see. As umbrellas have the nasty habit of disappearing right about the time you need them, Billy and Rebecca were left to make their way to Rebecca's truck in the only-slightly-easing-off rain, and as such were soaked three feet out the door. Rebecca was debating on whether or not she wanted to drive when she caught sight of a vauge shape in the front yard of the neighbors' house. Without bothering to tell Billy what she was doing, Rebecca moved through the wall of rain to see who- she didn't want to even think 'or what'- was skulking about in the middle of the night.

The figure's back was too her, and she could just barely see the atrocious palm tree print of her neighbor, Mr. Rafferty's favorite bathrobe. She had seen him in it every morning for the past three years, when he went out to get his newspaper. That had changed recently- partially because she hadn't been actually getting up until noon- due to the fact that he, and his wife, had been sick since Thursday. She'd talked to them both Friday afternoon. Edna, the wife, had insisted that it was just the sniffles, and that they would be back up and about in no time. She'd seen them again the morning before, coughing away as they fed their many cats...

"Mr. Rafferty?" said Rebecca, reaching out to tap his shoulder, "Mr. Rafferty, are you alright?" the man let out an almost questioning groan as he turned to face Rebecca. She could see more clearly now, since with every second, the rain eased off a little more. "Mr. Rafferty, you shouldn't be-" a flash of lightning lit up Mr. Rafferty's face; milky-white eyes, gray decomposing skin... She knew those features all too well, "SHIT!"

* * *

The Strip

Finally, the rain had ceased. It made the job of two Phoenix employees all the easier.

"I love the sound of explosions in the morning," Eben said cheerfully, as he watched the chaos unfold below, from his and Ada's perch atop the roof of a restaraunt. "Don't you?"

Ada only rolled her eyes, and remained silent, as she watched a little girl ripping out her mother's throat. She shivered involuntarily at the sight, and turned away. Wesker's scheme was like clockwork so far. People had started dying from the "flu"-in other words, Wesker's new and improved T-virus- hours before, as had been predicted by Wesker's labrats, and the power station had gone up at midnight exactly, sending an already panicked city into darkness. _Put people in the dark, scare the shit out of them; no more rules_, Ada thought, trying to block out the screams, _Couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Drayton..._

"So how long are you going to drag this out?" Ada finally asked, delighting in the fact that she had made Eben jump.

"Pardon?"

"How long are you going to pretend that we're actually partners on this mission, before you try to kill me?"

_Straight to business, as usual_ Eben thought, cocking his head to the side as he stared at Ada. He had to be careful of what he said. He'd been told to keep his change of orders a secret from the woman; including the ones involving her. Perhaps it was best to make her think that she was still going to have to keep a close eye on him. So, he only shrugged, "Let's not rush things, Ada. Wouldn't want to be hasty about getting to third base."

"You're disgusting."

"I try."

Ada sighed, at that, and crossed her arms, intent on ignoring her "partner" until such time as it was neccessary to kill him. It might have saved her some trouble if she just caught him off guard, and pushed him off of the roof, but what would be the fun in that? Besides, there was something Eben wasn't telling her. She knew it, and she wouldn't be satisfied until she knew what "it" was. Curiosity was one of the few traits that went against her profession... People in her line of work weren't supposed to question what was going on, what their orders were. She often did just that. She also often disobeyed her orders, or went behind the back of whoever her employer happened to be at the time, like she had several days before, when she'd sent Leon that text message to let him know when the shit would hit the fan...

Unfortunately, the idiot hadn't gotten out of the city, which meant that if whatever Eben wasn't telling her had to do with a change of orders on the fate of Leon, Eben would have his chance to carry out those orders. _You always make me save your ass, don't you, Leon?_ Ada mentally grumbled, as she realized that she was likely going to be playing the hero several times in the next few hours. Leon never had been able to stay out of trouble. Nor had his friends.

"When's Wesker setting some of the experiments loose?" Eben's voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"I don't know."

"He told you yesterday."

"Yes, but he's changed so much without my knowing, lately, that anything Wesker has told me is likely useless information."

"Just tell me, before I shove you over the edge."

"Go ahead, it's what you're here for anyway."

"Ada..."

"One-forty-five."

"Thank you."

Again, both fell silent, as they watched the people- and zombies- below. Supposedly they were gathering data on the rate at which the new strain of t-virus spread. Ada's report likely would have read "pretty damn fast" if she had any intentions of submitting one. And indeed the virus was spreading quickly. In a little under fifteen minutes, the Strip had gone from being full of alive, and mostly healthy people to more dead, and undead than living; and it wasn't taking long for the bodies to get back up. Several minutes, for some, mere moments, for others.

Those who survived their encounters with the zombies with only a bite or a scratch wouldn't last long either; as several experiments had shown, bite- or scratch-victims never lived more than three hours after the wound was recieved. The ones who were directly injected with the original liquid form of the virus, however, had days before they died, which suited Wesker just fine. Slow to take hold, and fairly benign as far as symptoms went- easily dismissed as a cold, or the flu- but fast to spread, once the original host has died.

Ada didn't even want to think about what the new hybrid strain of G and T-Veronica were going to do. She almost hoped she wasn't alive to see it.

* * *

Billy hadn't even seen Rebecca walk away from the truck, through the sheets of rain. Only when it started easing off even more did he notice that she wasn't in front of him, as she had been before. Nor was she by the truck.

"SHIT!"

The yell caught him by surprise, but the surprise didn't stop the quick reflexes Billy had always taken pride in, and before he even realized he was moving, he'd spun in the direction of the shout. He saw Rebecca, stumbling away from someone else, as fast as she could. No, not someone. Some_thing_. A flash of lightning- not so bright anymore- allowed Billy to get a good look at the man's face, and he barely kept from having the same verbal reaction as Rebecca. He reached for the handgun she'd given him, which he'd tucked into the back of his jeans, fully prepared to calmly put a bullet in the skull of what was quite obviously a zombie. However, the sound of gunfire came before he'd even managed to touch the gun. To Billy's immense relief, the zombie crumpled to the ground, a bullet lodged between its eyes; Rebecca had managed to get to her own gun fast enough to shoot the thing before it took a chunk out of her.

"You okay?" Billy asked, as he simultaneously ran towards her.

"Yeah, fine," Rebecca replied, in a scarily detached way, "Let's just get going... Don't wanna be here if there're more of them around..." She moved past Billy, towards the truck, clearly trying to avoid having him pursue the matter any farther...

Billy wasn't falling for it. He grabbed her arm and made her face him, "I repeat... Are you okay?"

Rebecca shook her head, "I just saw him yesterday, Billy, and he was _fine_... Now..." she let out a heavy sigh, "Can we just go? We at least need to find Leon and Caine..."

Billy released her arm, and nodded. Perhaps it was just best to leave the matter alone for now. If Rebecca didn't want to talk about the effect shooting her neighbor was obviously having on her, there wasn't much he could do, at the moment. And she was right, they did have to get to the others. Sighing in resignation, Billy followed the woman to the truck.

"If everyone that was sick was infected," Rebecca said, as they climbed in, "Over half the city is going to be monsters..."

Billy nodded, as he pulled out of the driveway, "Think it's worth sticking around once we get Caine, and Leon?"

"... I don't know..."

* * *

"Fuck!"

Ada had been quite happy to sit atop that roof in her own little world until Eben's swearing pulled her out of it. She started to turn towards him, fully intending to tell him that if he wasn't ready to kill her yet, then he would kindly shut up, and leave her to dwell peacefully in la-la land. Though as she turned, she saw that he had ample reason for drawing her out of her self-created shell; the door that had allowed them to get on the roof in the first place hadn't been locked, and several of the zombies had found their way up the stairs, and had shoved the door open, leaving a crowd of corpses between the two spies, and their exit.

"Keep your shirt on, Eben," Ada said calmly, picking up her rifle, and getting to her feet, "It's just a few zombies." With that, she raised the rifle, and took careful aim on the nearest zombie- thank God for sniper scopes- and pulled the trigger, putting quite a neat hole in its forehead.

Big mistake. The moment the first zombie fell, the others moved faster than one might expect a corpse to move towards Ada. _Well... Shit..._ Ada went for her Blacktail; not as powerful as the rifle, but it fired faster, and looked back up to find a zombie reaching for her. There was no way she'd manage to get her gun up fast enough to avoid a bite, and she couldn't move backwards; the edge of the roof was mere inches away... Looked like Eben wouldn't have to kill her after a-

The zombie dropped suddenly; Ada had been too preoccupied with her impending doom to hear Eben's gun go off. She'd have to ask him why he'd done that, just as soon as the other rotting bastards were taken care of. Shaking her head at her "partner's" odd behavior, she put her mind to the task at hand; staying alive. She put bullet after bullet through as many of the creature's skulls as she could, and let Eben take care of the rest. Eben was good, no doubt, but she was better. She knew the trick with zombies was to remain calm, aim for the heads, and to always remember that they were slower than dead snails; easy to get around, IF you had room to manuever. Eben had never dealt with zombies before, and knowing what to do, and actually being able to do it were two different things.

Finally, the last one fell, and both man and woman had been splattered with blood, but neither were injured. "Why didn't you let it have me?" Ada wasted no time in asking her question. No time at all; the last zombie's body was still twitching.

"That would have been too easy," Eben replied with a shrug, wiping a few drops of blood off of his cheek, though he only succeeded in smearing it around.

"Stop playing games with me, kid," Ada spat, feeling a bit of satisfaction when she saw Eben stiffen at being called 'kid'. Too bad. To her, he was a kid, "Are you going to kill me, or not?"

Eben, regaining his composure, gave her a grin that likely would have had any other woman melting into a puddle of useless goo, "You'll just have to wait and see."

Ada rolled her eyes, "Fine. You said letting the zombie get me would have been too easy? Well I suppose my sticking around would make it too easy, as well. I'll see you around."

With that, she grabbed her discarded rifle, holstered her blacktail, and strode towards the door, half expecting Eben to try and stop her. He didn't so she kept walking, "Catch me if you can," she called over her shoulder, as she headed down the stairs. She was going to find Leon, and get the hell out of the city, and hopefully avoid another run-in with Eben. She'd just have to live with not knowing what it was he was hiding, but such was the price of getting out alive.

Unbeknownst to Ada, Eben had never lost his grin.

"You go find Leon, Ada... Make my job easier... I'll just find Coen and Chambers, and I'll be seeing you again soon..." He turned away from the door to look down at the body-filled street below. He could see Ada, outside the front of the building he was one, carefully picking her way through the bodies, keeping a good distance between herself and the ones who were twitching, "If you're lucky, I'll be able to convince Wesker to let you live..."

As Ada vanished from sight, Eben gathered his own weapons, and headed for the stairs. He had a task of his own to do, and if all went as planned, Ada would never know about it, or, at least, she wouldn't know about it until it was too late for her save any of them. He knew she would try; Ada may have been able to fool everyone else, and even herself, but she couldn't fool him. Deep down, Ada loved to play the hero.

And Eben knew exactly how to use that against her.

--

More Eben and Ada in this chap than in previous ones... And always, a few things to say about this chapter:

first off, the line "Put people in the dark, scare the shit out of them; no more rules" as well as "Mr. Drayton" is from Stephen King's "The Mist"... Yes, I like putting Stephen King references in my stories... He's a great writer, and I love his work

and now about Eben, and Ada calling him "kid": Whether she meant he was a kid to her, age-wise, or experience-wise, even I'm not sure; though Eben is quite young... Mid-twenties, if that. (and for anyone who's wondering what he looks like, imagine Josh Hartnett ala 30 Days of Night... just... Crazy.)

anyway, I have a bunch of ideas for the next chapter, so hopefully it will be a long one- though sometimes my ideas don't take as much writing as I originally think they will- or at least a plot-filled one...


	7. Chapter 6

And this chapter came to me like... super fast... I know, over a week doesn't seem like super fast, but trust me... over half this chapter was written in the time between noon yesterday, and now... and most of that was done today... It's amazing what a simple article in Game Informer will do for your writing, isn't it?

Anyway... Not much in the way of Billy/Beckyness this chap, but there's some Leon/Ada sparkage to make up for it :p

There's also some actual PLOT in this one, so no worries.

thanks to Jowy Avilon and Ren for reviewing last chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Las Vegas, NV

July 28th, 2008, ??

Walking fifteen blocks, in a flooded, zombie-infested city in the middle of the night, while it was pitch black out, no less, wasn't something Rebecca was going to be suggesting as a relaxing activity any time soon. Halfway to Caine's apartment, the streets had been filled with either abandoned or wrecked cars, making it impossible to get through, via driving. So, on foot they went, through the flooded streets... And they'd had enough close calls to last Rebecca a life-time. In the dark, it was difficult to tell, until you were too close for comfort, who was dead, and who was alive.

Rebecca was well aware of the fact she was trembling, she was also well aware that it had nothing to do with the fact that she was soaking wet. She was terrified, she was furious, she was frustrated and she was worried about her friends, all of which had her shaking from her inability to express any of it properly.

Though on the bright side, it wasn't raining...

"Finally," Rebecca half-sighed the word, as she caught sight of the apartment building where Caine lived. They'd have to be quick; the place was likely crawling with the zombies. Get Caine, get out, and get to Leon, then get out of the city... There wasn't much that could be done, now.

"Rebecca!" a voice hissed from a cluster of bushes near by, making Rebecca and Billy both jump. Rebecca turned towards the bushes, and found herself being blinded by the beam of a LED flashlight.

"Ah, jeez, turn that off!" Billy growled. Apparently he was getting the same treatment.

"Oh, sorry," said the voice, as the owner moved out of the bushes; Caine. "Jus' wanted t' make sure ya weren't dead, or nothin'... Kin'a hard t' see out here, if ya ain't noticed."

"We'd noticed," Rebecca replied, attempting to blink away the bright flashes of green and blue that were obscuring her vision, "You're okay?"

"Yup... Neighbor screamin' woke me up... I was jus' about t' head off t' yer place, make sure ya were alright when I saw ya on th' sidewalk... Don' wanna go in th' buildin'... Crawlin' with th' buggers. Ever'one that was sick th' past week is deader'n a doornail."

"And I'm betting it wasn't 'cause of the flu," Billy muttered under his breath, as he reached for his lighter, and cigarettes. Lighting one, he asked, "So, Doll, where's Leon gonna be?"

"Not at home," Caine answered for Rebecca, "Mind if I have one'a those?" the question was asked with a nod at the lit cigarette. He continued, as Billy handed him the pack, and the lighter, "He jus' left here, a few minutes ago. Said he was gonna see about helpin' th' idiot cops, while I wen' after you two..."

"Wonderful," said Rebecca, "That's another long walk... and in the opposite direction of the way out..." She paused, and sighed, "Well, may as well get going... Maybe we can catch him before he gets too far ahead of us..."

* * *

Las Vegas Police Department

Unfortunately, they did _not_ manage to catch up to Leon in time, and over and hour after they'd set out to search for him, trio found themselves in front of a very different looking LVPD. The glass main doors had been shattered- which was quite a feat, as they had supposedly been shatter-proof. There were bodies strewn about the entrance; none of which looked like the work of zombies... They had been torn to shreds in a way that wasn't possible for any human to do. Billy found himself feeling slightly green at the sheer amount of blood and random body parts that were strewn about. Bodies reminded him of the massacre he'd witnessed in Africa. Even eleven years later, he still had nightmares about that...

"Please tell me neither of you see Leon," Rebecca said, looking as though she were about to hurl. She looked down at her feet, when she stepped on something, and gagged when she realized it was chunks of flesh.

Whatever had done this, it had a violent streak.

"No, no Leon," Caine responded. Billy couldn't see him, as the man was behind him, but he _sounded_ as green as Billy felt, and Rebecca looked, "Do we really wanna go in there?"

"Not really," Billy said, as they continued to head for the shattered doors. He'd never been the squeamish type, but the ground was completely covered in blood, and just glancing about quickly, there were at least forty bodies, and none of them were in one piece. Judging from the clothing on the torsos that were left, most were cop.

Inside the station, things didn't get much better. Whatever had killed everyone outside had decided to give the same treatment to those inside as well. The building was silent, save for the buzzing of a few flies, and the steady _drip drip drip_ of blood falling onto the tile floor, from a decapitated corpse that was strewn over a table... Billy tightened his grip on his gun, and continued to move forward. With any luck, whatever had done all of this was gone... And hopefully Leon hadn't been there when whatever it was had been. There was a crash from ahead, like someone, or something, had knocked something over. The trio froze, waiting to see if the noise continued, or if whatever had made it was going to come out. Nothing. Even slower than before they continued forward, this time with the knowledge that they definitely weren't alone in the building...

Catching sight of movement in the room at the end of the hall, Billy ignored the door he passed, and didn't even have time to register that Rebecca had shouted at him before something heavy slammed into him from behind.

* * *

The Strip

"She took off an hour ago, boss," Eben was saying to his headset, on the other end of which was Wesker, "I haven't found Chambers, and Coen yet, but Ada will take care of Kennedy."

_Good... Does she know?_ came the slightly staticy reply.

"No, sir, though I think she suspects there's been a change of plans."

_That was inevitable. She doesn't know you can track her?_

"Nope... When do you want them?" He needed to know the kind of time-frame he was dealing with, so he could fine-tune his plan, and know when he could improvise, and when he had no choice but to follow it to the letter.

_Keep them in the city until dawn tomorrow... I want as much time as possible to observe how the experiments handle experienced combatants... Especially SB-023._

SB-023, nicknamed "Stevie" by the scientists. Eben had never asked why, because he'd found early on that many of Wesker's employees had an even sicker sense of humor than he did, and he hadn't been sure he'd wanted to know the origins of "Stevie". He still didn't want to know. "That won't be easy, sir... They'll be determined to leave as quickly as possible."

_Separate them if you get the chance. They won't leave one of their little group behind._

"Alright... Until tomorrow, Boss... Eben out," without waiting for a reply, Eben pulled his headset off, and shoved it in one of the empty ammo pouches on his belt. He'd've had his tactical vest, but part of his plan required that he look at least semi-civilian. He could have tried to pass himself off as a cop, but what little information he had on Chambers that was current told him that she was a coroner for the LVPD. He had no idea if she kept to herself, or if she knew just about everyone on the force, and would hence be able to call him on his bluff. It wasn't a risk he was willing to take, so a civvy, with a fair knowledge of weapons it was.

He briefly checked the small bit of technology that was strapped to his wrist; it was easily passed as a watch, but in reality, it let him know exactly where Ada was, at any point in time. Right then, she was close to the hospital; Desert Palms. Good, that put her a good distance from where he was heading. Wesker's various surveillance systems around the city were still active- running on a separate power source than the city its self- and as such, he knew that Chambers, Coen, and Caine were at the police department, or had been a few minutes ago. Why their first inclination had been to go there, he didn't know, but he did know that if it'd been him, he'd have been out of the city by then...

"And yet here I stand," he said to himself, "About to go deeper into a monster-infested city... " He shrugged as if it were no big deal, made sure his weapons were fully loaded, and started the trek towards his targets. It was going to be a long day...

* * *

LVPD

Rebecca had started to warn Billy to look out before she even fully registered that she'd seen movement, but apparently that wasn't quite fast enough, for what she'd seen moving still lept at him. She very nearly shot the "something" thinking it was a zombie, but two things stopped her. One, the supposed zombie was shouting, and two, she recognized the mop of curly brown hair.

"Toby!" she almost yelled, moving forward, grabbing the back of his shirt, and yanking him off of Billy, choking him in the process. She had, however, underestimated Toby's state of panic, for she was very nearly tackled as Billy had been. This was stopped only by Billy having regained his balance, and grabbing the man who'd attacked him, before he got very far in his attempt to do the same to Rebecca.

"GET OFF M-OW!" Toby was cut off when Billy roughly yanked his arms behind his back, and twisted them in such a way that even Caine grimaced.

"Little hint, buddy," said Billy, forcing Toby to the ground, "Don't wanna get hurt; don't jump people."

"Alright, alright! Let me up!" Toby whined, trying desperately to escape Billy's grip.

"Why should 'e?" said Caine, whom knew Toby, and seemed quite amused to see him in pain, "We'd be well within our rights t' shoot ya fer that little stunt, boy."

"I almost did," said Rebecca.

"Rebecca?" apparently Toby hadn't heard her before. He turned his head to quite to awkward angle to try and see her.

"Yeah," Rebecca replied, "Are you going to be nice?" Toby nodded as best as he could being pressed to the floor, "May as well let him up," she said to Billy, with a shrug.

Billy did so, and Toby sprang to his feet, looking as though he was considering starting a fight. He settled with simply glaring, and dusting off his blood-splattered clothes. "I didn't think you'd still be alive," the scrawny man finally said, obviously referring to Rebecca.

"You shouldn't underestimate me... What happened here?"

Toby shrugged, as if to say "I dunno".

"What happened?" That was Billy, and there was a slightly menacing undertone to his voice, though whether that was because he'd already had a really bad morning, and Toby had only made it worse, or because he'd made the connection between this Toby, and the ex Rebecca had mentioned, she didn't know.

Toby seemed to shrink under Billy's gaze, and he reluctantly replied, "A couple hours ago, the people in the building who'd been sick just started dropping like flies... But they got back up, and started attacking everyone else, like they were z-... No, that's just crazy..."

"Zombies," Rebecca said the word for him, "Yes, that's what they are. Go on."

Toby blinked at her for a second, as if wondering how she knew what they were, but continued, despite his confusion; "Bunch of people were torn apart, but eventually the cops managed to get rid of most of them... Then almost two hours after the power plant went up some_thing_ started attacking the people, and the z... zombies outside... Then it came in here, and did the same... I hid in the bathroom... didn't come out till I heard voices..."

Rebecca perked up at that. None of them had spoken once inside the building, so it couldn't have been them that he'd heard, "Did you see who it was?"

"Some dude... blond, armed to the teeth... Took off with some chick, before I could get their attention... Not that I can blame him... She was hot..."

"Sounds like Leon," said Billy, "Dunno about the woman though... Which direction did they go?"

"Towards the hospital," Toby replied, "Now someone tell me what the _fuck_ is going on!"

"It's a long story," said Rebecca, "And it'll have to wait. We need to see if we can catch Leon... The sooner we get out of town, the better." As she spoke, she reloaded her handgun, as she hadn't had the chance, since the group of zombies that had taken most of that mag. Now, there were no zombies around, and the place was relatively safe, so she may as well get it done.

Toby watched in amazement at the ease with which she handled the weapon. Rebecca knew for a fact that he had been under the impression that she was a helpless little girl, who needed someone to protect her... Much like just about every other man she'd met. Billy was included in that list, though he'd eventually come to the realization that she was tougher than she seemed.

"Going or staying?" Billy interrupted Toby's staring, "If you're going, grab a gun, and be quick about it."

Toby nodded, and did as he was told. Something that shocked Rebecca. He'd barely listened to Doc Robbins, who could have easily fired him, and here he was, listening to Billy, without so much as a word of protest. _Miracles do happen... Let's hope he'll continue to be silent..._

* * *

Ada had almost forgotten that she wasn't alone, by the time Desert Palms came into view. Leon hadn't said a word since they'd left the police station. It was really starting to unnerve her, since in the past, he'd always had something to say, even if she didn't let him get around to actually saying it. Now, here they were, actually working together for the first time in nearly ten years, and he was silent. The mission in Spain didn't count. Sure, they'd saved each other's asses, sure they'd had a few _brief_ conversations, but they hadn't actually been working together... Not like they had in Raccoon City. Leon hadn't had much to say when she'd found him in the ruined police department, either. He'd asked her what she was doing there- much harsh language included- and mumbled an agreement to her proposal that they stick together... Beyond that; not a word. And at the moment, there wasn't much she could do to remedy the situation, because there was a massive group of zombies ahead of them. For the moment, they were concerned with munching on another carcass, but if there was one thing Ada knew about zombies, it was that they would often leave an already dead meal for a live one.

Without a word Leon raised his riot gun, and blew two of the zombies' heads to bits at once. The sudden noise made Ada jump, and made the remaining corpses look about with their dead eyes, as if confused... If they even had the brain power to _be_ confused. Leon gave the same treatment to three more of the rotting beings, again, with one shot. Ada considered telling him to keep the head shots up, but she would no doubt have gotten a "I know what the hell I'm doing" look. Though it was important to make sure that there was SOMETHING buried firmly in the things' brains, lest they came back again, as the beings that had been nicknamed Crimson Heads... Even worse, a second failure to destroy the head could result in a slightly varied form of Licker... Slightly less intelligent, and not as powerful as one that was created on purpose, but still dangerous all the same.

Deciding that Leon had everything under control, Ada stood to the side, and let him take care of business. Watching him, she felt old, familiar feelings starting to build up. During the rare moments when she was being at least semi-honest with herself, she would admit that the feelings she had for the man in front of her had the potential to be love. When she was being _completely_ honest with herself, she could admit that they already were; that they were as strong, if not stronger than they had been when she'd let her mask slip, as she was dying, and told him those simple, yet horrid words... _I'm... Just a woman who fell in love with you..._ It was because of that little slip that she was unable to fully "switch off" when she was around Leon... And worse, he knew it.

"Ada."

Simply the sound of his voice was enough to jerk her from her thoughts, as though she'd been slapped. Leon stood amidst the now mostly-headless- she allowed herself a small mental chuckle as her brain sailed smoothly from Mostly-Headless Zombies to Nearly-Headless Nick- looking at her as though she was crazy. Perhaps she was... Who in their right mind went on a trip down memory and contemplation lane when there were zombies getting their heads blown off not ten feet away?

"What?" Ada asked, slipping easily back into her cold-hearted bitch disguise. It was more to keep herself in control than him. After all, he could see through it.

"You said there was something you needed from the hospital," Leon replied, with a shrug, as if it didn't matter to him, "We're there."

"Oh, right," Ada mumbled, as she headed for the entrance. She could hear Leon following her, "This will only take a minute," she said over her shoulder, "Just... wait here, I'll be back."

Leon reached out, and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stop. Ada willed herself to ignore the little jolts of electricity she felt when his skin met hers. "Will you?"

So that was it. He was afraid she was going to vanish in the building, and not return. Perhaps in the past that would have been her intention, but tonight, her first agenda was to make sure Leon got out safe... But, she _needed_ to get one thing from the hospital. "Yes..." she replied softly, letting her bitch-facade fall away, as she intertwined her fingers with his, and squeezing his hand gently, "I'll be back."

As she spoke, she saw something she hadn't seen before; a small glimmer of hope in those pale blue eyes of his... Hope that maybe there was something between them that could be made to work... And suddenly, Ada found herself more terrified of Leon than anything else in the dying city; because secretly, in the very smallest corner of her mind, it was a hope she shared. Suddenly stiffening, and willing herself to remain detached, Ada pulled her hand from Leon's, muttered a "be back soon" and left him there on the front steps of the building.

* * *

Wesker sat in his computer room, watching the events in several places, at once. There was a room like this in every one of his labs, each one equipped to show him either the local surveillance on a particular city, or use the massive satellites he now hand control of to monitor other areas. He could also access the main computers- the Red and White Queens- from any of them. The Queens were hidden, of course, in locations that only he, and a select few others knew of. Actually, only he knew the location of the Red Queen. She was the important one. The White Queen was the secondary operator, if she was destroyed, she could be rebuilt... But Red Queen; if she was destroyed, there was no regaining the information that would be lost. All else could be destroyed, but as long as the Red Queen remained intact, Umbrella/Phoenix could be rebuilt, from the ashes.

But, both Queens were safe, so there was no point in dwelling on them. No, Wesker was far more interested in what was going on with his two current experiments. Coen, Chambers, and Caine had picked up another stray, and were, to all appearances, trying to track down Kennedy. Eben wasn't too far behind them, and would hopefully distract them long enough to keep them from catching up to Ada, and Kennedy... Speaking of which...

"Ada, my dear, what are you up to?" Wesker asked aloud, not caring that he was talking to himself. She was at the hospital, which could only mean one thing, "Oh, you can't possibly be thinking of trying _that_... Do you really think I'm going to let you just waltz out of the city, with something so important?"

He laughed, at that. If Ada really thought she was going to walk out of Vegas, important item, or no... It was almost as amusing as what was transpiring on another screen. He had surveillance around every main lab, though it was always kept hidden, so the two figures had no idea they were being watched.

_We should just get out of here, and go home_ Claire Redfield was arguing with her brother, in the middle of a small African village that Wesker intended to be their grave. He took the time to notice that Claire could have almost passed for a native. The sun had tanned her intensely in the few days she'd been there, and somewhere along the way, she'd acquired a few pieces of the local jewelry. Yes, could have passed for a native, if not for the shotgun she was tapping impatiently against her thigh, and the clothes she wore... particularly the bright white jeans...

_Claire, there's something here_ Chris responded, _Go home, I'll be back in a couple of days. You don't need to be here._

_Bullshit I don't! What if there _is_ something here, and you get into trouble? What then?_

_I'll get out of it... I don't want _ you_ in danger...Go home... Or, L.A. would probably be safer. It doesn't matter, just get your ass in gear, and get out of _ here.

_Christopher Micheal, stop treating me like Goddamn kid-_

Wesker silenced it, after that. Whilst the sibling squabble was amusing, he had other things to worry about... Like orchestrating the siblings' death.

_Receiving video transmission_, the Red Queen informed him. He glanced quickly at the ID number of whoever was trying to contact him, before he allowed the transmission to go through.

_Albert?_ said the being that now appeared before him, _He's arrived... With...someone else... How do you want me t-_

"I don't," Wesker interrupted, suddenly getting an idea. It wouldn't have been as much fun, with just one of them, but with both... a cruel smirk worked its way onto his lips. As if reading his mind, and realizing what he meant, his partner mirrored the expression, "As of now, there has been a slight change of plan."

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTES

So Chris finally makes an appearance albeit a short one... Don't look for much more on him... yet. And Wesker's up to no good... what else is new.

By the way: anyone who guesses what/who SB-023 aka "Stevie" is gets virtual cookies!... And anyone who knows what Claire's current appearance is based off of... More cookies! :p

... In reference to Claire: I dunno if what I got her new look from is her, or not... We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

And for the record... I DESPISE Toby... I absolutely hate him... I've got a few scenes with him already planned out, and he's too much of an ass for even me to like XD


	8. I'm back

Just an update to say I've gotten my writing spark back, and I intend to continue with this one shortly. I am sorry that it has taken so very long to get any sort of update on this, but I haven't been writing ANYTHING for a while.

So, just hang in there a little longer while I get past the dreaded chapter 7 (it's cursed I tell you) and I will get back to updating this on a regular basis.


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